The Draftz' are taxpayers and residents of the Sheldon Community School District. Their daughter attends a parochial high school in the District. The District has a very successful summer theatre program which has been operated since 1973.

The testimony presented by the District showed that since the initiation of the program, no high school students have been allowed to participate unless they were enrolled in the District or enrolled in a school that had a sharing agreement with Sheldon. The superintendent testified that no exceptions have been made to this practice because the program was created only for Sheldon District high school students and if "outsiders" were allowed to participate, they could take parts away from students in the District.

The superintendent asked the Board's attorney for an opinion on whether or not Appellants' daughter had a legal right to participate in the summer theatre program. In voting to deny Appellants' request for their daughter to participate in the summer program, the District Board relied on the opinion of their attorney, which concluded that an individual who is a resident of the school district but not a student in the District does not have a legal right to participate in the summer theatre program since there is no statute which requires school districts to allow non-students the right to participate under these circumstances.

Appellants filed an appeal to the State Board of Education seeking review of the Sheldon Board's decision. They argued that the denial of participation discriminates against them on the basis of religion and creed and is unconstitutional.

The administrative law judge and hearing panel found that Appellants failed to show that the action of the District Board was unreasonable. The District established that its policy of allowing only attending students to participate in the summer theatre program furthers legitimate educational interests of the District. The fact that Appellants' daughter attends a parochial school does not constitute religious discrimination. The focus is not on the enrollment of the student in the private school. Rather, the focus is on whether or not the student is enrolled in the Sheldon High School as a student.

That the decision of the Board of Directors of the Sheldon Community School District, made on March 8, 1999, to exclude Susi Draftz from the 1999-2000 summer theatre program on the grounds that she is not attending the District's high school as a student, be affirmed.