People ex rel. McCollum v. Bd. of Educ. of Sch. Dist.

• Decision Date: 22 January 1947
• Docket Number: No. 29678.,No. 71.,71.,29678.
• Citation: 71 N.E.2d 161,396 Ill. 14
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. McCOLLUM v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DIST.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

396 Ill. 14

71 N.E.2d 161

PEOPLE ex rel. McCOLLUM

v.BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DIST.

No. 71.

No. 29678.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 22, 1947.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Champaign County; Frank B. Leonard, judge.

Mandamus proceeding by the People on the relation of Vashti McCollum against the Board of Education of School District No. 71 to prohibit the teaching of religious education in the public schools during hours when public schools were regularly in session. From a judgment denying the writ, relator appeals.

Affirmed.Milton T. Raynor, of Chicago (Walter F. Dodd, of Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

John L. Franklin, of Champaign, and Eckert & Peterson, of Chicago (Abe R. Peterson, Owen Rall and Burnham M. Fisk, all of Chicago, of counsel), for appellee.

THOMPSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the circuit court of Champaign county denying a writ of mandamus as petitioned for by Vashti McCollum, the relator and plaintiff, a resident and taxpayer in Champaign School District No. 71, who seeks to prohibit the teaching of religious education in the public schools during the hours when the public schools are regularly in session. The defendant school district includes all of the schools and school buildings in the city of Champaign. Special motions to quash the summons and dismiss the petition on limited appearance of the defendant were overruled. Answer being filed, and after intervening petitions and reply thereto, the cause by agreement was heard before the three judges of the sixth judicial circuit, sitting en banc, for the purpose of determining the disputed questions of fact and law involved in the case.

The record discloses that in the fall of 1940 the Champaign Council of Religious Education, a voluntary association of Jewish, Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths, was formed. They immediately sought and secured from the board of education of Champaign School District No. 71, permission to offer classes in religious education in grades four through nine. Qualified instructors, all materials and books, as well as incidentals, were to be furnished at the expense of the council. Admission to the classes was to be allowed only upon the express written request of parents, and then only to classes designated by the parents. They were to be excused by the board from attendance in the grade schools for 30 minutes and from the junior high school for a period of 45 minutes in each week for participation in the religious education classes. Classes were to be scheduled so as not to interfere with the regular public-school classes after consultation with the public-school teacher.-Each faith-Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, was to have its separate instructional classes and no expense in connection with the classes was to be borne by the board. Additional groups were to be freely permitted to participate upon the same terms. Lesson materials and curriculum were to be selected by a committee representative of all groups participating and in a manner to avoid any offensive, doctrinal, dogmatic or sectarian teaching. It is apparent the teaching was to be of the content of the Bible without interpretation or attempt at influencing belief in the doctrines or creeds of any church.

James Terry McCollum, the son of the relator, around whom this controversy centers, entered the fourth grade of the district school in the fall of 1943, and along with five others did not participate in the religious education classes during the first semester. He did, however, participate with his mother's consent during the second semester. In the fall of 1944 he transferred from the South Side School at his mother's request and enrolled in the fifth grade in the Doctor Howard School, and, with one other youngster, Elwin Miller, did not attend the religious education class the first semester. During the second semester he was alone in not participating therein. When other members of his class were attending the religious education classes he continued his regular studies in the music room under the supervision of his regular teacher. On one occasion he was placed at a desk in the hall where apparently he was teased by passing children who thought he was being punished. On complaint of his mother, this practice was promptly and permanently discontinued, as was that of placing him in the music room, when his mother claimed he was a victim of claustrophobia.

The record further discloses that the teachers conducting the religious classes were not teachers in the public schools but were subject to the approval and supervision of the superintendent. The courses in religious education were conducted in the regular teaching rooms in the public-school building, which were temporarily turned over to the religious-education teachers, and the classes were held during the school hours. They covered a period of 30 minutes of each week in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades and 50 minutes each week in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades of the junior high school. Cards were distributed to the parents of elementary students by the public-school teachers requesting them to indicate whether they desired their children to receive religious education. After being filled out, the cards were returned to the teachers of religious education classes either by the public-school teachers or the children. Separate rooms for Catholics, Jews and Protestants were provided for religious instruction away from those who did not desire to participate.

At the opening of the trial, an intervening petition was filed by Elmer C. Bash and his wife, citizens and taxpayers residing in the school district, alleging that they are the parents of two minor children who attend the district school; that they are members of the University Place Christian Church, located in the community, and that they desire the classes in religious education, complained of by the relator, to continue; and allege that under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution of the United States, and under the constitution of the State of Illinois, they have the right to direct the education of their children, and prayed for the dismissal of the relator's petition. No objection was made to the filing of this petition, but the relator filed a reply thereto praying strict proof, and denying that intervenors' children are entitled to attend the classes of religious education and that they have any constitutional rights as alleged in the intervening petition. This petition was not referred to in the trial court because the court was of the opinion that the case could be disposed of on the complaint for mandamus, the answer thereto and the evidence heard in regard to the same.

The errors relied upon by the relator for reversal are: (1) The segregation of public-school pupils into sectarian groups for the purpose of instruction in a public school is violative of Federal and State constitutional guaranties of freedom of religion,-the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal constitution and section 3 of article II and section 3 of article VIII of the constitution of Illinois, Smith-Hurd Stats. (2) The use of public funds for sectarian education violates section 3 of article II and section 3 of article VIII of the constitution of Illinois, and section 15-14 of the School Code of Illinois. (3) Sectarian teaching of public-school students in public-school buildings during school hours is violative of section 6-43 of the School Code of Illinois. (4) The discretion of an administrative body and officer in this case is violative of section 2 of article II and article III of the constitution of Illinois, and is a violation of the guaranties of due process of law and equal protection of laws by the Fourteenth Amendment to the constitution of the United States.

It was defendant's contention that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed because: (1) The authority of the board of education to release pupils from public-school studies for a period each week in order that they may take religious studies is established by the recent case of People ex rel. Latimer v. Board of Education, 394 Ill. 228, 68 N.E.2d 305. (2) The defendant has the statutory power, subject to the constitutional provisions here involved, to permit the use of schoolrooms for religious education when they are not actually being used for public-school purposes, even though other portions of the building are then being used for public-school classes. (3) No constitutional provision is violated by the facts shown in this record because the plan is voluntary and no one's religious freedom is infringed, and because there is no appropriation, donation or payment of public money in aid of a sectarian purpose. The use of the school building is a mere incidental aid to religion which this court long ago approved. Nichols v. School Directors, 93 Ill. 61, 34 Am.Rep. 160.

It is first contended by relator, on her assignment of errors, that the segregation of public-school pupils into sectarian groups for the purpose of instruction in a public school is violative of Federal and State constitutional guaranties of freedom of religion as provided in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal constitution, and section 3 of article II and section 3 of article VIII of the constitution of Illinois. It is particularly urged that the plan of the school district of providing religious instruction for three groups,-Catholic, Jewish and Protestant,-through distribution of cards or schedules for voluntary registration, with provision of public schoolroom and of school-time periods for such instruction, is obnoxious to the constitutional guaranties; that while the program is voluntary it results in segregation and embarrassment to those not participating, which amounts to interference with their religious freedom.

Relator places great reliance upon the case of People ex rel. Ring v. Board of Education, 245 Ill. 334, and quotes from page 351, 92...