HomeWire ReportsFight Over Bus Service for Wisconsin Catholic Schools Heading to SCOTUS?

Fight Over Bus Service for Wisconsin Catholic Schools Heading to SCOTUS?

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) reportedly asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a fight over busing in the state, reported WND News.

The issue has been ongoing for the last five to six years. The argument centers on how the state provides transportation aid to qualifying private school students, as long as there was no overlapping attendance area between private schools that are affiliated with each other.

The main issue, however, is whether the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Friess Lake School District, which is now part of Holy Hill Area School District, would deny qualifying students from St. Augustine students in Hartland, Wisconsin, access to busing help.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously decided that DPI violated the law, but it failed to resolve the core constitutional question of religious liberty.

DPI stated that it would withhold transportation benefits from students at St. Augustine, an independent Catholic School, unless the school stopped referring to itself as “Catholic.”

WILL deputy counsel Anthony LoCoco explained that the critical constitutional questions at the heart of this case remain unresolve.

However, WILL argues that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which was authored by Judge Diane Wood, violated state law when it denied the families at St. Augustine school transportation benefits.


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