Copyright 1994 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.  
Chicago Sun-Times
June 28, 1994, TUESDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 419 words

HEADLINE: Supreme Court Blocks Hasidic School District

BYLINE: By James Vicini

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:
In a major church-state ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday declared unconstitutional an attempt by New York state to create a separate school district for handicapped children of a Hasidic Jewish group.

The justices by a 6-3 vote upheld a New York appeals court ruling that the state legislature's solution in 1989 of how to provide services to disabled Hasidic students violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

New York state and the local board of education had defended the school district as a constitutionally permissible way to accommodate the needs of a unique religious community.

But the court, in a majority opinion written by Justice David Souter, rejected that argument, saying the special school district creates an impermissible "fusion" of governmental and religious functions.

"The legislature has delegated civic authority on the basis of religious belief rather than on neutral principles," Souter wrote.

While the Constitution allows the state to accommodate religious needs, he said, the special school district "crosses the line" of the required separation of church and state.

The case involved members of the Satmar Hasidic sect in Kiryas Joel, an Orange County village about 40 miles northwest of New York City. Most of the children are taught in private religious schools.

The Kiryas Joel public school district, which has a budget of $ 6 million a year, was created to take care of the needs of about 220 children too handicapped to go to private religious schools.

The parents of the children had opposed sending them to nearby public schools for religious reasons.

The 12,000 residents of the village are devoutly religious and believe in maintaining an insular community. Yiddish, rather than English, is the common language.

After the law was adopted, the village elected a board of education, and the year-round school opened in 1990.

The American Jewish Congress applauded the decision, saying it reaffirmed the separation of church and state. The Anti-Defamation League said the ruling sends a clear message that a religious community cannot assume governmental functions.

The court's three most conservative members -- Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- dissented.

Scalia said the case involved no public aid to private schools.

He charged that the court has invalidated the school district "on the flimsiest of evidence" and it does not trust government accommodation of religion.

GRAPHIC: Reuters

LN-ACC-NO: COURT28061994

LOAD-DATE: June 28, 1994