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Posted: 7:40 PM- A new publicly funded charter school and an LDS seminary share the same roof in Lindon, but they're entirely separate institutions, educators say.
Housed in the same building, Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy occupies about 80 percent of a renovated bowling alley that also houses an LDS seminary, a place Mormon Maeser Prep students can go to study religion during release time from school. The seminary's location has raised questions about the separation of church and state, though officials emphasize each program has its own entrance and pays its own lease.
Public tax dollars are not paying for the seminary, said Michael Westover, headmaster of Maeser Prep, which is at 531 N. State St.
"It's not accessible from our school," he said. "You have to go outside and go around to get to it."
But he acknowledged Maeser Prep students, who study liberal arts using the Socratic method, benefit from its location.
"It's convenient to have it close," he said. "Students go back and forth from [seminary] time to our classes."
Locating a seminary and public school in the same structure could cause some people to believe the school is subsidizing the church, said Carol Lear, director of school law and legislation for the Utah Office of Education. Being across the street from a public school, which is typical for an LDS seminary, gives a different appearance.
"There certainly is an issue of perception," she said. "It does matter that they're in the same building. Does it make it illegal? I'm not sure I can say that."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates seminaries in separate buildings near public schools throughout Utah. Typically LDS students in grades nine through 12 are released from school about 45 to 50 minutes for religious study on a daily basis. The amount of time depends on the school schedule.
A 1981 landmark case concluded that students could be released from school for religious programs, but the instruction needs to take place separately, funded with separate resources.
Despite the common building, seminary officials stress just how independent the institutions in Lindon are: They even have different electrical boxes, they say.
The decision to share a wall with Maeser came down to convenience for the students, said Scott Robley, the principal of the seminary program. On Tuesday afternoon, Robley said he was eager to have his seminary sign posted. On occasion, people have opened the seminary door thinking they were entering the school.
As the number of charter schools grows in Utah, the LDS Church is studying how to respond to the boom, said Paul Monson, the church education area director over the seminary. Normally a school district plans years ahead for a new school allowing the church adequate time to buy land and construct a religious education building nearby. Charter schools have gone from an idea to a schoolhouse in a matter of months.
Church officials are well aware of the laws governing their education programs.
If Maeser owned its building, the seminary would not be located there, Monson said.
"It's the separation of church and state," he said. "You don't find us inside of any public school in the state of Utah."
JULIA LYON can be contacted at jlyon@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">jlyon@sltrib.com or 801-257-8748.