Chance v. Mississippi State Textbook Rating & Purchasing Board

Section 201 of the Constitution of Mississippi, 1890, is as follows: "It shall be the duty of the legislature to encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement, by establishing a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and, as soon as practicable, to establish schools of higher grade."

It is further provided in section 208 thereof: "No religious or other sect or sects shall ever control any part of the school or other educational funds of…