In three recent cases, courts upheld school officials' decisions to prohibit students' school-based religious activities. Contends that the school boards and courts failed to exercise sufficient care in weighing students' right to engage in private religious activity during free time. (MLF)

Presented is the complete text of the judgment, injunction, and opinion of U.S. District Court Judge William R. Overton who enjoined the Arkansas Board of Education from implementing the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act" of the state legislature. (Author/DC)

In its "Catholic Bishop" decision, the Court was unfaithful to the National Labor Relations Act's language and legislative history and also to the Court's own precedent. Available from Law Quarterly, School of Law, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130. (Author/IRT)

In "Mergens," the Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Access Act was constitutional and that students at a high school with a "limited open forum" could participate in a prayer club. Provides a chronology of First Amendment and Equal Access Act cases; advises school boards about policy issues; and lists the availability of a…

The Supreme Court's finding that the University of Virginia acted unconstitutionally in denying funds to students for a Christian newspaper not directly affiliated with a church raises new questions about legal issues of church-state separation and the allocation of student fees. Some legal experts feel the ruling could spell the demise of campus…

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Equal Access Act (EAA) had precedence over the state constitution under the Supremacy Clause. Examines that decision and considers its implications for the implementation of the EAA as well as other issues in church-state separation in education. (53 footnotes) (MLF)

School boards need to keep current on the status of graduation prayer. The "Weisman" decision said graduation prayers violated the First Amendment; the "Jones" decision would allow graduation ceremonies with student-led invocations and benedictions. Reviews these decisions to pinpoint the sources of confusion in subsequent…

Three recent federal court decisions dealt with the use of public university and public school facilities by student groups for religious activities. In "Widmar v. Vincent," the United States Supreme Court decided that the University of Missouri at Kansas City was not justified in its denial of permission to a registered student…

Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell's interest in balancing the rights of the individual with those of the community through a flexible, pragmatic, case-by-case approach is revealed in his opinions in education cases involving racial integration, equal protection, the separation of church and state, and educational management. (PGD)

In reviewing court cases in education, the author focuses on the interrelationships among judicial decisions, educational administrators' prerogatives, and the economic welfare of public education. Cases are drawn from the areas of racial segregation, handicapped and bilingual education, state financing of schools, and church-state separation.…

Filing a lawsuit against a school district often means challenging the core values of a community. Cases discussed include a suit to prevent the broadcasting of morning prayers in school ("Herdahl"), a suit over the singing of a religious song ("Bauchman"), and drug-use testing for student athletes ("Acton"). (MLF)

An examination of the constitutionality of team prayer shows that pregame prayers violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, and their use can lead to liability problems for both coaches and school boards. Advises school boards to adopt policies specifically prohibiting team prayers. (MLF)

Although the Supreme Court's "Mergens" decision settled the controversy over the constitutionality of the Equal Access Act, the ruling seems to make more ambiguous the definition of a limited open forum for student expression and the legal status of devotional activities. (55 references) (MLF)

This review of the Supreme Court's 1991-92 term is divided into seven sections by subject matter: (1) desegregation; (2) religion and freedom of speech; (3) school liability and immunity; (4) employment and labor; (5) elections and voting rights; (6) school finance; and (7) special education. A list of cases and statutes discussed is included at…

Pressure on the public schools is coming from conservative New Right religious-political groups. Their concerns focus on: (1) secular humanism--a Godless form of religion that the public schools are alleged to be teaching; (2) scientific evolution versus creationism--the balanced treatment statute; (3) Bible clubs and prayer in the classroom; and…