Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : School Bible Study Groups Say Court Is on Their Side : Religion: A June 7 ruling holds that barring messages of a religious nature is unconstitutional. The district had banned campus lunchtime meetings.

SANTA CLARITA —  Bible study groups who say the William S. Hart Union High School District discriminates against them because of a policy that excludes religious clubs from meeting in campus classrooms at lunchtime now believe they have the U. S. Supreme Court on their side.

Representatives of the groups said they will cite the court’s June 7 ruling, which held that to forbid a speaker’s or a group’s message because it is religious is unconstitutional, when they present their case to the Hart school board tonight.

The district Board of Trustees agreed to review its policy May 26 after more than 200 students and adults asked that Bible study clubs be given the same access to school facilities as other groups such as the chess, drama and political clubs.

Existing school policy allows curriculum-related groups to hold lunchtime meetings in classrooms.

District officials have admitted that enforcement of the policy has been uneven because non-curriculum groups such as the chess, drama and political clubs also have been allowed access to campus facilities at lunch.

Bible study groups have been permitted to meet on campuses after school, but not during lunch.

Those supporting Bible study in school facilities say the Supreme Court ruling bars the district from prohibiting any group from using school facilities because of constitutional free speech guarantees.

But some district officials interpret the ruling differently.

Daniel Hanigan, the district’s assistant superintendent, said the ruling leaves the school district with the option of opening the campus to all groups, or prohibiting them all.

But said Alan Land, a teacher of constitutional law at The Master’s College, a religious college in Santa Clarita: “If other non-curriculum clubs are moved, then the free speech issue comes up. If they choose to close the forum entirely, then what are the rights of the groups that are being disadvantaged by that?”

The district’s existing policy is based upon the federal Equal Access Act of 1984, which establishes the opportunity for non-curriculum-related student groups to meet on school premises and requires access be given regardless of the meetings’ content, officials said.

Land said a series of Supreme Court rulings gives the equal access issue priority over concerns about the separation of church and state.

Limiting access to groups that include only students and barring non-curriculum groups are important weapons to help keep undesirable, extremist groups off campus, Land and other school officials said.