Taetle v. Atlanta Independent School System, No. 05-1632 (Ga. Jan. 17, 2006)
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a school district's decision to rent classroom space from a church in order to hold classes did not violate the state constitution's proscription against the use of public funds to aid religious institutions. Atlanta Public Schools (APS) entered into an agreement with Buckhead Baptist Church to lease space from the church for a kindergarten annex. The agreement provided that APS would pay for renovations and improvements on the church property in exchange for credit on rents owed. Suit was brought challenging the lease agreement on the grounds it violated the establishment clause of the Georgia constitution. That clause states: "No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution." While the court agreed that case law firmly establishes that neither the state nor its political subdivisions can own, control, or give financial aid to a church or religious institution, and that municipalities are prohibited from paying a religious organization to assume the entity's charitable work, the state establishment clause does not prohibit a political subdivision of the state from "enter[ing] into an arms-length, commercial agreement with a sectarian institution to accomplish a non-sectarian purpose." The lease in question was such an agreement because APS did not give the money to the church to "foster the education of its children in a sectarian school." Rather, the court found the lease of the classroom space was for the purpose of establishing and operating a kindergarten in a nonsectarian environment. As a result, the lease payments did constitute providing monetary aid to the church and, therefore, did not violate the state constitution.
Taetle v. Atlanta Independent School System, No. 05-1632 (Ga. Jan. 17, 2006)
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