St. Augustine School v. Carolyn Stanford Taylor
2021 WI 70
| Wis. | 2021Background
- St. Augustine School (private, self-described Roman Catholic) applied for public transportation under Wis. Stat. §§ 121.51 and 121.54; Friess Lake School District denied the request because students already were transported to St. Gabriel, identified as a Catholic (Archdiocesan) school in the same attendance area.
- St. Augustine’s corporate filings and bylaws disclaimed affiliation with the Archdiocese; its website described the school as "Roman Catholic," prompting the Superintendent to rely on the website and deny overlapping attendance-area relief.
- St. Augustine sued, alleging First Amendment Free Exercise and Establishment violations and challenging the superintendent’s statutory interpretation; the district court and Seventh Circuit upheld the Superintendent’s approach; the U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded in light of Espinoza, and the Seventh Circuit then certified a state-law question to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
- Certified question: may the state superintendent rely only on neutral corporate criteria (ownership, control, articles) to decide whether two private schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination," or may the superintendent also consider a school’s self-identification (website, state filings)?
- Wisconsin Supreme Court held the Superintendent is not limited to corporate documents and may consider a school’s public professions (website, filings) in a neutral, secular inquiry, but may not investigate or surveil a school’s religious beliefs, practices, or teachings. The court answered the certified question and remanded to the Seventh Circuit.
- Concurrences emphasized that "affiliated with" requires a mutual organizational relationship (both entities agree to affiliate); the dissent argued Vanko was wrongly decided, urged overruling, and maintained the statutory provision is unconstitutional under the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Methodology for determining whether two schools are "affiliated with the same religious denomination" | Superintendent must rely on neutral corporate criteria (articles, bylaws, ownership); using website statements exceeds authority | Superintendent may accept a school's public self-identification (website, filings) as neutral evidence without delving into religion | The Superintendent may consider corporate documents and a school's public professions (website/filings) in a neutral secular inquiry; cannot investigate religious beliefs/practices |
| Establishment/entanglement concern from using non-corporate sources | Considering website statements forces state to decide "what is Catholic" and causes unconstitutional entanglement | Taking a school's chosen label at face value is non-intrusive and avoids entanglement | Use of a school's professions does not necessarily create excessive entanglement so long as inquiry remains on professions/affiliation and not theology or religious practices |
| Validity of prior state precedents (Vanko, Holy Trinity) and whether to overrule | (St. Augustine did not ask to overrule Vanko) | (Defendants urged retaining precedent) | Court declined to overrule Vanko or Holy Trinity; treated them as governing precedents and used their First Amendment guardrails |
| Meaning of "affiliated with" and evidentiary weight of different sources | School argued its corporate documents showing independence control outcome | Defendants relied on school's public self-identification and other neutral indicators | Majority: both corporate documents and public professions are permissible evidence; concurring opinions stress that affiliation requires mutual organizational relationship (both parties agree) |
Key Cases Cited
- State ex rel. Vanko v. Kahl, 52 Wis. 2d 206 (1971) (construed "same religious denomination" to avoid constitutional infirmity and treated affiliation as organizational/sponsoring-group concept)
- Holy Trinity Community School, Inc. v. Kahl, 82 Wis. 2d 139 (1978) (held that when corporate charter and bylaws facially show independence from a denomination, inquiry stops absent fraud or collusion; government cannot adjudicate matters of faith)
- St. Augustine School v. Evers, 276 F. Supp. 3d 890 (E.D. Wis. 2017) (district court: accepting school’s website description at face value did not create excessive entanglement)
- St. Augustine School v. Evers, 906 F.3d 591 (7th Cir. 2018) (Seventh Circuit affirmed using school’s chosen label as non-intrusive evidence; dissent warned about theological oversimplification)
- Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, 137 S. Ct. 2012 (2017) (Free Exercise prohibits denying otherwise available public benefits solely because an applicant is religious)
- Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, 140 S. Ct. 2246 (2020) (once a state decides to subsidize private education, it may not disqualify religious schools solely for being religious)