Using Federal Funds to Dictate Local Policies: Student Religious Meetings Under the Equal Access Act

Abstract

The heated debate over issues of separation of church and state presents few more controversial questions than the one addressed in the recently passed Equal Access Act-that of the proper role of religion in the public schools. The Act addresses a narrow slice of this broad issue, the question whether student religious groups should be allowed to meet on public school premises. Into a deliberation already complicated by competing local interests and state and federal legal requirements, the Act injects yet another element- a federal directive to local school districts to allow such groups to meet.