Final answer:
The Supreme Court upheld the use of vouchers for private or parochial school in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, concluding that the program was constitutional because it was neutral toward religion and did not violate the Establishment Clause.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Supreme Court upheld the use of tax-supported vouchers to attend private or parochial school in the case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S. 639 (2002). In this decision, the Court found that a government program providing tuition vouchers for students to attend a private or religious school of their parents' choosing is constitutional, as the vouchers are neutral toward religion and therefore do not violate the Establishment Clause. It should be noted that while this decision allowed vouchers for K-12 education, different rules exist for institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities, where students can use federal aid freely. The distinction lies in the belief that older students are more capable of accepting or rejecting religious teachings compared to younger students.
The debate about government funding for private religious schools has been ongoing, with landmark cases such as Lemon v. Kurtzman setting a precedent for evaluating the constitutionality of such funding. In Agostini v. Felton, the Supreme Court also allowed federal aid to be used to pay public school teachers to teach secular subjects in private religious schools, further developing the jurisprudence around the entanglement of religion and government in education.