In Swiech v. Board of Education of the Sylvania City School District, (OH Com. Pl., March 19, 2024), an Ohio trial court dismissed a suit brought by parents of students attending a Catholic school. Plaintiffs complained that bus transportation furnished by the District to and from non-public schools involved much longer transportation times than bus service for public school students. While public school students were taken directly to school, non-public students were taken to a central transfer point and then transferred to other busses to get to their schools. Among the court's holdings was that no Equal Protection violation was involved because the District only needed a rational basis for the differential treatment. Conservation of limited financial resources meets that test. The court also rejected plaintiffs' Free Exercise challenge
Plaintiffs have offered no evidence of any coercive effects on their religious practice: there is no evidence that the transportation plan has compelled Plaintiffs to do anything forbidden by their religion or that it has caused them to refrain from doing something required by their religion. Plaintiffs have also not offered any evidence that the transportation plan has compelled them to affirm or disavow a belief forbidden or required by their religion.
