Kathleen Hopkins

@Khopkinsapp

Millions of dollars of state funding for the nation’s leading yeshiva in Lakewood isn’t all that’s at stake in an upcoming court battle that has wound its way to the state’s highest court, state officials say.

What the state Supreme Court decides in the case concerning $10.6 million in higher-education funding to Lakewood’s Beth Medrash Govoha will have implications for higher education throughout the state, as well as other types of public grants to institutions with religious affiliations, the state attorney general’s office says.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey says a panel of appellate judges got it right when it ruled in May that the grant to the Lakewood rabbinical school and grants totaling $645,323 to the Princeton Theological Seminary clearly violate what is commonly known as the Religious Aid Clause of the state Constitution.

READ: $10.6M Lakewood yeshiva grant struck down

The clause prohibits the use of tax revenues for the maintenance or support of any religious group.

The state attorney general’s office wants the high court to overturn the appellate decision, saying it could hamstring its efforts to fund higher education and other programs throughout the state.

The Supreme Court, which accepts only a fraction of the appeals that come before it, agreed to hear the state’s challenge, setting up a legal battle the state says is of public importance with statewide consequences.

A hearing in the case has not yet been scheduled. The Supreme Court, at a conference Dec. 7, certified the state’s appeal.

READ MORE: Court to rule on $10.6 million yeshiva grant

The two grants were among $1.3 billion awarded by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration in 2013 for capital improvements to 46 New Jersey colleges and universities, nine of which were private, religiously affiliated institutions.

The money for the grants came from five bond programs, including the Building Our Future or “GO Bond Act,’’ a $750 million fund aimed at keeping New Jersey’s higher education institutions competitive with out-of-state schools. The fund was approved by the state’s voters in a 2012 referendum.

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“The reach of this case is not limited to the parties to this case,’’ Stuart M. Feinblatt, assistant attorney general, wrote in a petition to the Supreme Court. “The Court’s decision will determine the eligibility of several religiously affiliated higher education institutions for grant programs. Their eligibility, or lack thereof, will affect the overall quality of New Jersey’s statewide system of higher education.’’

Although the appellate court’s decision was limited to grants to Beth Medrash Govoha and the Princeton Theological Seminary, the decision did not provide adequate guidance on how other higher-education institutions with religious affiliations differed from them, Feinblatt’s petition said.

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Other religiously affiliated institutions receiving state grants that were not challenged included Georgian Court University, also based in Lakewood, Seton Hall University in South Orange, and the college of St. Elizabeth in Morristown.

Of all the grants, those to Beth Medrash Govoha stirred the most controversy, not only because it was one of the largest awards, but also because of the college’s religiously conservative beliefs and its reputation as a powerbroker in political and economic circles.

One of the grants to the school was for construction of a new library and research center that would also house the department of Hebrew studies, department of adult and continuing education, internship advisers, counselors, and a writing resource center. A second grant was to renovate an existing building to create new classrooms, a reference library, computer room, faculty offices and academic support space.

The state attorney general’s appeal contends the grant money would not be used to maintain a minister or ministry, as precluded by the state constitution, but rather would support academic facilities unrelated to the future ordination of students.

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But the ACLU, in its court papers submitted to the Supreme Court, said the yeshiva is a Jewish rabbinical school with a curriculum consisting entirely of religious instruction. It receives a tax exemption that is not available to higher-education institutions unless they are a church, the ACLU says. Its student body is exclusively white males, and it has an exclusively male, Jewish faculty, the ACLU says.

The Princeton Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian Christian institution providing instruction solely to prepare individuals for ordination as ministers or priests, and it requires all degree students, faculty and members of its board to be Christian, the ACLU says.

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“The grants strike at the core of the Religious Aid Clause,’’ the ACLU said in its court papers. “If tax aid supporting the core functions of divinity schools that train ministers and provide sectarian religious instruction does not run afoul of this Clause, then what does?’’

The attorney general claims the case will have consequences beyond higher education.

“It will affect public grant programs generally,’’ Feinblatt wrote in the state’s petition. “For example, historic preservation grant programs have funded restoration projects at religious institutions. The decision in this matter may also control eligibility for those types of grants.’’

The ACLU noted that the appellate judges carefully limited its decision to exclude the nullification of grants to “broad-based liberal arts colleges and universities just because they happen to have a Religious Studies Department or a chapel on campus.’’

The ACLU also noted there were no challenges to the other religiously affiliated institutions that received the state grants.

Kathleen Hopkins:732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com