Rendell-Baker v. Kohn

In Rendell-Baker v. Kohn (1982) 457 U.S. 830, a counselor who had been discharged from a privately owned and operated school, allegedly for exercising her First Amendment rights to free speech, brought suit against the school for violating her constitutional rights. The school received funds from, and was regulated by, the State of Massachusetts. The Supreme Court explained, however, that the receipt of public funds did not transform the acts of a privately owned and operated school into state action. "'A State normally can be held responsible for a private decision only when it has exercised coercive power or has provided such significant encouragement, either overt or covert, that the choice must in law be deemed to be that of the State.'" (Id. at p. 840)