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Constitutional Law Keyed to Maggs
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
Citation:
536 U.S. 639 (2002)Facts
There are more than 75,000 children enrolled in the Cleveland City School District. The majority of these children are from low-income and minority families. For more than a generation, Cleveland’s public schools have been among the worst performing public schools in the Nation. To resolve the educational crisis in public schools in Cleveland, the State of Ohio enacted its Pilot Project Scholarship Program. The program provides tuition aid for students to attend a participating public or private school of their parents’ choosing and also tutorial aid for those who choose to go to public school. Any public or private school may participate and the participating school must agree not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity. Ohio taxpayers filed suit seeking to enjoin the program on the ground that it violated the Establishment Clause.
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