California law essentially bars private high schools from discipling pupils for the content of their speech, unless the speech falls within an exception to First Amendment protection. The law, however, "does not apply to any [institution] that is controlled by a religious organization, to the extent that the application of this section would not be consistent with the religious tenets of the organization."
It strikes me that some parents would like to send their kids to a high school that has some kinds of civility codes (either because they want their own children to be subject to such codes, or because they think their children's education would be better if the children around them are subject to the codes). Under the California law, though, that's not an option, even if they send their kids to private school -- unless they send their kids to a private religious school whose religious tenets require the imposition of such a speech code. It seems to me quite possible that this would give such religious schools a legally enforced edge over secular schools: They can offer parents an educational environment for their children that secular schools cannot. Is the religious exemption therefore unconstitutional? Eugene _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.