Board of Education of Kiryas Joel v. Grumet

Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions handed down on 1 July 1985, rendered the accommodation between the Monroe-Woodbury and Kiryas Joel schools unacceptable. In Grand Rapids School District v. Ball (1985), the Supreme Court ruled that the Grand Rapids public schools had violated the Constitution by providing remedial education and religious enrichment programs to nonpublic schools, whether during or after regular school hours. Then, in Aguilar v. Felton, (1985), the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that New York state statutes allowing provision of public school remedial education and counseling services to private school students were unconstitutional. In light of these rulings the arrangement reached by the Monroe-Woodbury schools and the Kiryas Joel schools was scrapped, and the search for a new arrangement began. Meanwhile, Satmar children with disabilities had to attend the Monroe-Woodbury schools, hire their own private tutors, or forego special education altogether. This situation was unacceptable to Satmar parents, who began to lobby for a political solution to their problem. Finally, in July of 1989, the New York State legislature adopted State Law Chapter 748, which constituted Kiryas Joel as a separate, public school district for the exclusive purpose of providing special education services to students with disabilities. Governor Mario Cuomo had some misgivings about Chapter 748, given that the law specifically benefited members of one religious sect, but signed the law in the belief that it represented a satisfactory compromise for the peculiar situation faced by Kiryas Joel. Before the new Kiryas Joel school board commenced operations, however, the New York State School Boards Association brought suit against the State Education Department, alleging that Chapter 748 violated both the state and federal Establishment Clauses barring formation of state-sponsored religious organizations.