Berkley Center

Zobrest v. Catalina Foothill School District involved a deaf student’s request, pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), that the local public school district provide a sign-language interpreter to accompany him to classes at his Roman Catholic high school. The school district refused the student’s request on the grounds that the interpreter would act as a government-provided conduit for religious indoctrination. The Court held that the Establishment Clause did not prevent the school district from providing disabled students enrolled at sectarian schools with sign-language interpreters. The interpretation service, the Court observed, was provided pursuant to a government program that offered benefits to any child qualified as disabled under the IDEA, without regard to the nature of the school he or she attended. The Court found that it would be unacceptable to deny a generally available benefit to a disabled student only because that student attended a sectarian school. In addition, because parents are free to select the school of their choice, a government-paid interpreter would only be present in a sectarian school as a result of a parent’s decision. The Court found that there was nothing about the program that incentivized parents to send their children to sectarian schools. Finally, the Court distinguished Zobrest from cases such as School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball, in which government aid was provided directly to sectarian schools. In those cases, the challenged programs gave direct grants of government aid that relieved sectarian schools of costs they otherwise would have borne in educating their students. Under the IDEA program, the primary beneficiary was the student.