Supreme Court of Indiana, 2006

1
Nagy v. Evansville-Vanderburgh School
Corporation(EVSC)

• Supreme Court of Indiana, 2006
• 844 N.E. 2d 481
• LaMorte, M. (2008). School law Cases and
  concepts (9th Ed.). Boston, MA Allyn Bacon. Pp
  100-2.
• Jake Stiefel

2

• EVSC charged all students K-12 a 20 fee to help
  balance the budget for years 2002 and 2003.
• Parents who refused to pay were referred to a law
  firm and charged an additional fee up to 100.

3

• Parents
• Frank Nagy and Sonja Brackett
• Mrs. Bracketts child qualified for free/reduced
  lunches.

4

• Indiana Constitution states that school tuition
  shall be without charge.
• EVSC argued that the fee was used for services
  such as nurses, alternative education,
  counselors, and music, speech, and athletic
  programs.

5

• Indiana trial court ruled in favor of the school,
  accepting that the fees were not used for
  tuition.
• Indiana Supreme Court, however, overturned the
  decision and held

6

• 1)The services used as examples by EVSC are
  considered part of a public education, but this
  does not prohibit schools from charging for
  individual programs.

7

• 2)All students were charged, regardless if they
  used the services or not, and the money was
  deposited into the schools general fund.

8

• Therefore
• The 20 was a blanket charge to all students,
  which the court considered to fall under the term
  tuition.

9

• This case set precedent in Indiana, as it was
  tested against the language of Indianas
  Constitution. The opinion and reasoning, however,
  may be applied to similar cases by courts in
  other states.