Church-State Separation Group to Sue Bennett

A national group that advocates separation of church and state announced Thursday that it will sue Education Secretary William J. Bennett to force him to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that bans certain types of public aid to parochial schools.

Robert Maddox, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, accused Bennett of creating an “educational crisis” by offering to help school districts avoid compliance with the court’s ruling. He said his group will file suit in Missouri next week.

The lawsuit will seek an injunction against Bennett’s efforts to avoid compliance and will ask for monetary damages as well, Maddox said at a news conference. He said the Missouri case best illustrates Bennett’s attempts to block compliance with the ruling.

Latest Volley

The organization’s planned suit is the latest volley in a battle over church and state separation in which Bennett has vigorously attacked the Supreme Court for its July 1 ruling on the issue and alarmed advocates of church-state separation.

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that public school teachers may not teach disadvantaged students on the premises of religious schools, reasoning that students might infer that such aid meant the government supports religion.

That prompted Bennett to charge that “aggressive plaintiffs and beguiled judges” have turned the U.S. Constitution into “the instrument for nothing less than a kind of ghettoizing of religion.” The secretary called American values and those of the Judeo-Christian tradition “flesh of the flesh, blood of the blood.”

Litigation Support

On Aug. 15, Bennett sent letters to all state school agencies, saying his department will “support local and state agencies in litigation” if they “have good grounds” for seeking to delay implementing the court decision.

Bennett said the ruling lent greater urgency to the Administration’s controversial effort to start a voucher system in which parents would be given “chits,” allowing them to choose their children’s schools, public or private.

At the news conference Thursday, Maddox accused Bennett of trying to stampede Congress into passing a voucher program by creating “a climate of confusion, maybe even semi-panic,” around the Supreme Court issue.

Program for Disadvantaged

Moreover, Lee Boothby, a lawyer for the group, accused Bennett of trying to wreck the $3.2-billion program for disadvantaged students so he can persuade Congress to replace it with the voucher program.

In Jefferson City, Mo., Otis Baker, assistant state commissioner for instruction, said that the Missouri school system does not expect to be a party to the suit. But he added that “we seem to have a mutual interest” with the group “in implementing the law.” The state’s share of the funds for the disadvantaged is $50 million, which serves 85,000 public school students.

Spokesman Marie Robinson said the Education Department will have no comment until officials see the suit.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a 38-year-old nonprofit group that claims 50,000 members nationwide, most with ties to religious organizations.