4th Circuit: School messaging system not a public form
The opinion in Page v. Lexington County School District One, No. 06-1697 (4th Cir. June 23, 2008) begins:
Lexington County School District One, a “body politic and corporate” under South Carolina law, used its website, e-mail, and other forms of communication to urge opposition to the Put Parents In Charge Act, a bill pending in the South Carolina legislature that proposed tax credits for private and home schooling. The School District believed that the bill, if enacted, would tend to undermine public education.
Randall Page, who favored the bill, requested “equal access” to the School District’s “informational distribution system” to present his own message in support of the bill. When the School District refused his request, he commenced this action, claiming that the School District’s refusal violated his First Amendment rights by discriminating against his point of view.
On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court entered judgment in favor of the Lexington School District, concluding that the School District’s campaign was largely “government speech” and that the School District’s informational distribution system was not a public forum to which Page was entitled access. We agree and accordingly affirm.