School's Lease With Church OK Under Georgia Constitution

In Taetle v. Atlanta Independent School System, (Jan. 17, 2006), the Georgia Supreme Court held that the Georgia constitution was not violated by a school district leasing classroom space from a church to create a kindergarten annex. The lease, entered into in order to alleviate overcrowding in the public school, also provided that that the school system would pay for renovations and improvements on the church's property, for which it would receive a credit for rents owed. The court held that Georgia's prohibition on use of public funds to aid any church or sectarian institution did not preclude this sort of arms-length commercial lease.