Janasiewicz V. Board Of Educ. Of Kanawha County

In Janasiewicz v. Board of Educ. of Kanawha County, 171 W. Va. 423, 426, 299 S.E.2d 34, 37 (1982), the West Virginia Supreme Court held that it does not violate the equal protection of the laws for the state to treat public school children differently from parochial school children:

Equal protection requires that similarly situated classes be treated alike…. When there is a rational basis to distinguish between groups of individuals, not based on invidious discrimination, then different treatment does not offend equal protection provisions." (internal citations omitted).

The Court thereby held that the state could refuse to provide school bus transportation to students attending parochial schools because:^[1]

public and parochial school children may rationally be treated differently because they are not similarly situated. All children under sixteen years old are required to attend approved schools; but a parochial school student has chosen to reject a free public school education in favor of a privately paid education emphasizing religious beliefs and principles.

The Court further held that:

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is not violated by treating public and nonpublic school children differently in allocations of state aid and educationally-related resources. We overrule Syllabus Point 2 of State ex rel. Hughes v. Board of Education, 154 W. Va. 107, 174 S.E.2d 711 (1970).

The West Virginia Supreme Court subsequently held that, having already determined that treating public and nonpublic school children differently in allocations of state aid and educationally-related resources does not offend equal protection, It has "no difficulty concluding that treating public and nonpublic school children differently with respect to participation in interscholastic sports does not violate equal protection. As with the parochial students in Janasiewicz, the parents of home-schooled children have voluntarily chosen not to participate in the free public school system in order to educate their children at home. In making this choice, these parents have also chosen to forego the privileges incidental to a public education, one of which is the opportunity to qualify for participation in interscholastic athletics." Jones v. W. Va. State Bd. of Educ..

References[edit]

1. ↑ Janasiewicz v. Board of Educ. of Kanawha County, 171 W. Va. 423, 426, 299 S.E.2d 34, 37-38.