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The First Amendment also ensures the basic right to free exercise of religious choice, and, under the 14th Amendment, both Congress and the states are prohibited from passing laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” The First Amendment is the source of two types of church-school-state cases: those involving the use of public funds for parochial schools and those involving school policies or classroom procedures objected to on religious grounds. (For a discussion of cases involving school-sponsored prayer or other religious activities, see Russo, 2018.)

In general, court interpretations of the First Amendment suggest that the state is not allowed to provide funds directly to parochial schools. However, under the “child benefit theory,” the state may provide educational services (e.g., remedial instruction and school psychological services) for students attending parochial schools as long as those services directly aid the student, they are not used for the purpose of religious instruction, and there is no impermissible entanglement of church and state (Agostini v. Felton, 1997; Wolman v. Walter, 1977).