Federal appeals court upheld district court decision striking dow...
Federal appeals court upheld district court decision striking down Wis. state e-rate program as violating constitutional separation of church and state. Three-judge panel of 7th U.S. Appeals Court, Chicago, said Wis. program for supplementing federal e-rate program was unlawful…
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because it gave money directly to religious schools without any restrictions to ensure they didn’t use funds for religious support. Court in case brought by Freedom from Religion Foundation (Case 99-2850) said both programs taxed telecom service providers. But federal program, court said, compensated carriers from federal universal service fund for e- rate discounts to schools, so schools never actually received federal funds. Court also faulted state program for lacking any rules to ensure that state e-rate subsidies given to parochial and other religiously affiliated schools weren’t used to benefit campus religious facilities such as chapels or religious classrooms.