Court to Rule on Students’ Right to Pray : Will Decide If Pupils Can Meet for Worship During School Day

The Supreme Court, urged on by the Reagan Administration, today agreed to decide whether public high schools may allow students to meet during school hours for prayer and religious worship.

The court will review a ruling that banned such meetings at a Williamsport, Pa., high school even though the school allows students to conduct virtually all types of non-religious meetings during the same periods.

Reagan Administration lawyers attacked a federal appeals court ban on the meetings, saying it casts constitutional doubt on a new federal law requiring public schools to provide “equal access” for student religious groups.

In another decision today that could mean fare increases for some bus and subway riders plus higher local taxes in some areas, the justices ruled 5 to 4 that publicly owned mass transit systems must pay federal minimum wages and overtime.

Fair Labor Standards Apply

The court said in a case from San Antonio, Tex., that the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets minimum wage and overtime requirements, applies to transit systems owned and operated by state and local governments.

(In Los Angeles, officials of the Southern California Rapid Transit District said they do not expect that the court ruling will have a major effect locally. RTD spokesman Marc Littman said the 5,000 RTD drivers make an average of $11.90 an hour--well above the minimum wage--and that their overtime pay meets federal regulations.)

The prayer dispute, an outgrowth of the Supreme Court’s 1962 decision outlawing organized prayer sessions in public schools, arose when a group of students at Williamsport Area High School sought permission to form a religious group.

The students wanted to meet twice a week during the school’s 30-minute activity periods, during which about 25 different student groups meet.

First Amendment Cited

School Principal Wayne Newton initially granted the student religious group permission to meet, but after the first gathering of about 45 students, school officials disallowed further sessions, citing the First Amendment ban on the “establishment” of religion by government.

Ten student members of the group sued the school district in 1982, charging that their freedoms of speech, religion and association, and their right to equal protection had been violated.

A federal trial judge ruled for the students, and their group was allowed to meet during activity periods for the 1983-84 school year.

But the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the judge’s ruling by a 2-1 vote last July 24.

‘Speech Is Religious’

The students’ appeal to the Supreme Court said they were being discriminated against “solely because their speech is religious.”

In a “friend-of-the-court” brief, the Administration sided with the students.

Justice Department lawyers noted that President Reagan last August signed into law the Equal Access Act, making it unlawful for any public high school receiving federal money to deny access to students on the basis of “the religious, political, philosophical or other content of their speech” when extracurricular groups generally are allowed to meet in school during class hours.