Of God and Library Books

Staff -- School Library Journal, 10/1/1999

Supreme Court will hear case involving government money for instructional materials in parochial schools

Should money from the federal government pay for library books in parochial schools? That's what the Supreme Court will consider this fall when it hears arguments in a case that could set important precedents in the tangled law governing separation of church and state.

The court will decide whether to let stand a lower court ruling that declared unconstitutional a Louisiana school district's practice of loaning federally funded instructional materials -- including library books, computers, printers, and videocassette players -- to local religious schools.

The Clinton Administration wrote a brief in support of the Supreme Court's hearing the case, Mitchell v. Helms (No. 98-1648), saying the federal program in question --Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- has the important aim of bringing modern technology to all students.