Plaintiffs are The Columbus Academy, The Grand River Academy, The Andrews School, and Maumee Valley Country Day School, all private schools in Ohio; Benjamin D. Sommers, a student at Cincinnati Country Day School, and his mother, Marilyn Sawyers Sommers; the Ohio Association of Independent Schools (“OAIS”), an association representing twenty-eight private schools in Ohio; and Douglas W. MacKelcan, chairman of the OAIS and headmaster of The Columbus Academy. On October 18, 1995, plaintiffs brought this action against the governor of Ohio, the Ohio State Board of Education, and various Ohio school officials to enjoin enforcement of
§§ 3301.16 and
3313.612. Plaintiffs contended generally that the statutes at issue violated their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
Plaintiffs also sought declaratory relief and state law remedies.