Taetle v. Atlanta Independent School System, et al.

In this case, we are called upon to decide whether an arms-length
commercial lease agreement between a public school system and a church
violates the Establishment Clause of the Georgia Constitution. We hold that
it does not, and affirm the judgment of the superior court.

The facts of this case are straightforward. We summarize them as
follows:

In order to eliminate overcrowding of the Sarah Smith Elementary
School, the Atlanta Board of Education authorized the Atlanta Independent
School System ("APS") to create a kindergarten annex by leasing classroom
space at the Buckhead Baptist Church. The lease agreement provided that
APS would rent space from the church for a period of five years and nine
months.1 The agreement also provided that APS would pay for renovations
and improvements on the church's property, for which APS would receive a
credit for rents owed.

Alleging that the lease violated the Establishment Clause of the
Georgia Constitution, plaintiff brought suit to enjoin APS from making
payments to the church. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the
superior court granted defendants' motion, holding that the lease agreement
did not violate the Georgia Constitution. This appeal followed.
Our Constitution's Establishment Clause2 provides:

No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly
or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious
denomination or of any sectarian institution.

Under this provision, neither the State nor any of its political
subdivisions can own or control, or give monetary aid, to a church or
religious institution. Mayor &c. of Savannah v. Richter, 160 Ga. 177 (127
SE 148) (1925); Bennett v. City of LaGrange, 153 Ga. 428 (112 SE 482)
(1922); see Collum v. State, 109 Ga. 531, 532 (35 SE 121) (1900). Thus, a
municipality cannot appropriate money for a sectarian hospital to care for city
patients. Richter v. Mayor &c. of Savannah, 160 Ga. 178 (127 SE 739)
(1925). And, in the same vein, a municipality cannot pay money to a
religious organization to enable that organization to assume the city's charity
work. Bennett v. City of LaGrange, supra. That is because a political
subdivision of this state cannot give money to a religious institution in such a
way as to promote the sectarian handiwork of the institution.3 But that is not
to say that a political subdivision of the state cannot enter into an armslength,
commercial agreement with a sectarian institution to accomplish a
non-sectarian purpose. And that is what happened here. APS did not give
money to the church to foster the education of its children in a sectarian
school.4 On the contrary, APS merely leased classroom space from the
church so it could establish and run a public kindergarten in a non-sectarian
environment.5 The payments made by APS under that lease do not constitute
the giving of monetary aid to the church and do not, therefore, violate the
Establishment Clause of our Constitution.6

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http://www.gasupreme.us/pdf/s05a1632.pdf

Judgment affirmed.

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