On June 30th, the Supreme Court upheld religious freedom in education by ruling against a provision in the Montana state constitution that was used to exclude religious schools from tax-funded scholarship programs in Espinoza v. Montana. The case was brought before the court by three families who were recipients of the Big Sky scholarship fund, which focused on providing educational opportunities to low-income families and families of children with disabilities. Big Sky was part of a state program that granted a tax credit to anyone who donated to participating scholarship organizations, which would then enable students to attend private schools by sending money directly from the scholarship organization to the school on behalf of the student.
When Kendra Espinoza, Jeri Anderson, and Jaime Schaefer attempted to use the fund to send their children to Stillwater Christian school, they were blocked by the Montana Department of Revenue because of a “no-aid” provision in Montana’s state constitution. This no-aid provision was based on the Blaine Amendment, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the late 1800s specifically designed to block funding to Catholic schools. While the amendment failed to pass the U.S. Senate with the necessary 2/3 majority, similar amendments were adopted by over 30 states. These amendments lead to policies that single-out religious schools for different treatment simply for being religious, blocking them from grants and scholarship programs that are available to other private schools.
Rather than allowing these scholarships to be used by students who wished to attend Christian schools, when challenged, Montana decided to eliminate the program altogether, not through the legislature, but through the courts. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts summarized the situation this way:
The Montana Legislature created the scholarship program; the Legislature never chose to end it, for policy or other reasons. The program was eliminated by a court, and not based on some innocuous principle of state law…. seeing no other “mechanism” to make absolutely sure that religious schools received no aid, the court chose to invalidate the entire program.
The Montana Supreme Court demonstrated a commitment to the discriminatory practices of the Blaine Amendment over free exercise of religion and over educational opportunities for Montana students. While it is true that states are not obligated to offer grants or scholarships supporting private education, they may not, after deciding to do so, prevent schools from participating on the basis of religion. The Supreme Court supported this position saying, “A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”
In a concurring opinion, Justice Gorsuch emphasized the importance of parents’ rights to pursue religious education for their children and pointed out that “no-aid” provisions interfere with that right, saying,
Drawing on “enduring American tradition,” we have long recognized the rights of parents to direct “the religious upbringing” of their children. Many parents exercise that right by sending their children to religious schools, a choice protected by the Constitution. But the no-aid provision penalizes that decision by cutting families off from otherwise available benefits if they choose a religious private school rather than a secular one, and for no other reason.
Gorsuch further pointed out that the Constitution “protects not just the right to be a religious person, holding beliefs inwardly and secretly; it also protects the right to act on those beliefs outwardly and publicly.”
After the very discouraging rulings in Bostock and June Medical, the court’s defense of religious freedom in education in their Espinoza ruling is welcome news. Thanks to the court’s decision, families in Montana are guaranteed the freedom to choose schools that are in accordance with their values and their faith. And as the Family Research Council pointed out, this case protects religious freedom beyond the borders of Montana and because of it, “”Blaine Amendments” may soon be relegated to the dustbin of history.”
Scholarship programs like the Big Sky Scholarship help to ensure that educational opportunities are not limited on the basis of zip code and empower parents to give their children an education that fits with their religious beliefs and their child’s needs. Ultimately, parents are responsible for raising their children and providing them with an education, and because of that, parents, not governments, should be the ones to determine what kind of education is the best fit for their child.
