Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant-state school official’s motion for summary judgment in action by plaintiff-private school seeking transportation benefits for its students, under circumstances, where: (1) Wisconsin law limits those benefits for private school students to only one private school that was affiliated or operated by single sponsoring group within any attendance area; and (2) defendant found that plaintiff-private “Catholic” school was affiliated with same sponsoring group as another Catholic school which was already receiving transportation benefits. Defendant improperly made determination that both schools were sponsored by Catholic church that was based on probe of religious beliefs held by said schools and instead should have made said determination on neutral secular factors. Moreover, fact that both schools used same self-described label of “Catholic”, by itself, did not resolve question as to whether they were affiliated. Accordingly, remand was required for new determination of affiliation.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
School Law