St. Augustine School v. Evers
276 F. Supp. 3d 890
| E.D. Wis. | 2017Background
- St. Augustine is a private religious K–12 school; the Forro children attend it and live in Friess Lake School District more than two miles from St. Augustine.
- Wisconsin law (§ 121.51(1) / § 121.54(2)) bars overlapping attendance areas for private schools “affiliated with the same religious denomination”; attendance areas must be approved by the school district or the state superintendent as tie-breaker.
- Friess Lake School District refused to approve St. Augustine’s proposed attendance area because it overlapped with St. Gabriel (a nearby Roman Catholic diocesan school); both schools were described as Catholic.
- The state superintendent reviewed the parties’ submissions (St. Augustine’s website, bylaws, and partial corporate documents) and concluded St. Augustine was affiliated with the Roman Catholic denomination and denied the overlap.
- The Forros and St. Augustine sued in state court, defendants removed to federal court; plaintiffs seek judicial review of the superintendent’s decision (state law), constitutional relief under § 1983 (Free Exercise, Establishment, Equal Protection), injunctive relief, and damages for lost transportation aid.
- District court remanded the novel state-law question to state court, granted summary judgment to defendants on the federal claims, and denied plaintiffs’ summary judgment.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proper interpretation of “attendance area” / whether St. Augustine could overlap with St. Gabriel under Wis. Stat. § 121.51(1) | Vanko and Holy Trinity require decisionmakers to focus only on a school’s legal/corporate affiliation; if corporate documents do not show affiliation, inquiry must stop and overlap should be allowed | The statute contemplates determining whether schools are affiliated with the same sponsoring group or denomination; decisionmakers may consider available indicia (e.g., a school’s own statement) when corporate documents are silent | State-law question is novel/complex; court declines supplemental jurisdiction and remands state-law claim for review (no definitive ruling on statutory meaning) |
| First Amendment / neutrality (religion vs secular comparators) | Denying St. Augustine’s attendance area discriminated on the basis of religion; defendants applied a test to religious schools that would not be applied to secular schools | The Vanko interpretation treats religious and secular “sponsoring groups” equivalently; plaintiffs offered no evidence defendants would treat secular sponsoring groups differently | Defendants entitled to summary judgment on neutrality and equal protection claim — plaintiffs produced no evidence of disparate treatment of secular counterparts |
| Establishment Clause / excessive entanglement (defendants evaluated competing religious claims) | Defendants impermissibly evaluated religious beliefs/practices and thereby became excessively entangled in religion | The defendants did not conduct intrusive surveillance or detailed inquiry; they relied on St. Augustine’s own characterization and did not adjudicate doctrinal matters | No excessive-entanglement violation; single administrative decision cannot, by itself, support a Lemon-based entanglement § 1983 claim; summary judgment for defendants |
| Remedies (remand, damages, dismissal) | Plaintiffs seek judicial review, injunction, and money damages for denied transportation aid | Defendants seek dismissal or summary judgment against federal claims and remand of state-law claim | Court remanded the state-law administrative-review claim to state court, denied plaintiffs’ summary judgment, granted defendants’ summary judgment on federal claims, and denied superintendent’s dismissal motion as moot |
Key Cases Cited
- State ex rel. Vanko v. Kahl, 52 Wis.2d 206 (Wis. 1971) (interpreting attendance-area statute to prohibit overlapping areas for schools "affiliated or operated by a single sponsoring group" and treating denomination as the sponsoring group for religious schools)
- Holy Trinity Cmty. Sch., Inc. v. Kahl, 82 Wis.2d 139 (Wis. 1978) (limits state inquiry: if corporate charter and bylaws show a school is independent of a denomination, further religious inquiry by the state is constitutionally forbidden)
- Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (U.S. 1971) (Establishment Clause test includes an "excessive entanglement" prong)
- Bd. of Educ. of Kiryas Joel Vill. Sch. Dist. v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (U.S. 1994) (government may not prefer religion to irreligion or one religion to another; neutrality principle)