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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Law - Can the Indiana General Assembly appropriate money to Notre Dame?

That question crossed my mind when I read this story today by Roger Alford in the Lexington Kentucky Herald-Leader. Some quotes:

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky Supreme Court will decide whether a Baptist university can use $11 million awarded by state lawmakers three years ago to open a pharmacy school.

Lawyers are working under a June deadline to file written arguments. Justices could decide the case by the end of the year.

The case, which involves the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, is being closely watched by advocates for other church-affilated schools that have largely been excluded in the past from state funding for construction projects.

A trial judge ruled last year that the appropriation to the Baptist university violates the state constitution. The university's attorneys appealed directly to the Supreme Court, skipping the Court of Appeals, in hopes of expediting a decision.

Lawmakers had appropriated $10 million in 2006 to build a pharmacy school on the southeastern Kentucky campus and an additional $1 million for scholarships for pharmacy students.

Special Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden held that the state appropriation violated a constitutional prohibition against public education money being spent on any "church, sectarian or denominational school." * * *

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Bill Sharp said Kentucky's constitution contains broader protections against public funding for private, church-affiliated schools than does the U.S. Constitution. Sharp said it appears some state lawmakers want to overlook those protections, which, he said, makes the outcome of the lawsuit "extremely important."

Tim Tracey, an attorney for the Christian Legal Society in Springfield, Va., said he believes the case can clear up the misconception in Kentucky that the state constitution bans such appropriations.

"It goes to the idea that private religious schools ought to be on the same footing as any other private institution," said Tracey, who is representing the Baptist university. "It's worth noting that, the way the rule of law has developed in Kentucky, it's fine to use a private institution to address a public need, except when it's a religious institution. And that's why the case is important."

Tracey said his argument before the Supreme Court is simple: "The legislature made that appropriation not for an educational purpose but for a health and welfare purpose."

The area served by the University of the Cumberlands, Tracey said, is in need of more pharmacists and funding a pharmacy school could have met the need.

Here is the provision of the Kentucky Constitution at issue. It has been in effect since 1891 without amendment:
No portion of any fund or tax now existing, or that may hereafter be raised or levied for educational purposes, shall be appropriated to, or used by, or in aid of, any church, sectarian or denominational school.

What about Indiana? Indiana has this provision in its Bill of Rights, Art. 1, Sec. 6:

Section 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution.
It has been in effect, unchanged, since 1851.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 19, 2009 01:41 PM
Posted to General Law Related