Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Regan
United States Supreme Court
444 U.S. 646 (1980)
New York (defendant) amended a subsidy law, after an earlier version was struck down, to reimburse private religious schools only for expenses tied to administering state-prepared standardized tests and state-mandated reporting — no longer covering internally prepared tests or grading by religious-school staff. The Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (plaintiff) challenged the amended law as violating the Establishment Clause, and the district court upheld it, finding sufficient safeguards against public funds promoting religious teaching.
Whether a law providing public funding to religious schools violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when it serves a secular legislative purpose, does not promote or interfere with religion, and does not result in excessive entanglement of government with religion.