Two years after filing suit, lawyers for eight area families will tell a judge today exactly why some towns should be forced to pay tuition to religious schools.

“All we are asking for is the right to send our daughter to the school of our choice, which is exactly what our town does for everyone else,” said Jill Guay of Minot, one of eight plaintiffs.

At issue is Maine’s tuition law, which allows towns without schools to pay for students to attend public or private institutions. For the past 23 years, state law has prevented towns from paying for religious schools.

The Institute for Justice, a Washington-based law firm, filed a lawsuit two years ago on behalf of six families, saying the state’s refusal to pay for religious schools violated their rights to free exercise of religion. Since then, two other families joined the suit.

All eight are from Minot, Durham or Raymond, towns that have no high schools.

The Institute for Justice led a similar suit against the state in 1997. That case, which ultimately included five Raymond-area families, went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999, but the court refused to hear it.

In 1997, Maine had argued that the U.S. Constitution required it to exclude religious schools from its tuition programs. But two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court said it was legal for a Cleveland voucher program to pay for children to attend church-run schools.

The Institute for Justice believes Maine can no longer argue that it is abiding by the Constitution. It says Maine should change its law.

The Maine attorney general’s office, however, believes the Cleveland case allows states to pay for religious schools but does not require them to. In his motion for a summary judgment, Deputy Attorney General Paul Stern will argue today that Maine has the option to pay for religious schools but has chosen not to.

Oral arguments in the case will be heard in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland. A ruling likely won’t come for weeks or months.

Currently, more than 6,100 Maine students receive public funds to attend schools outside their towns, not including those who need special education programs. Fifty-four Maine towns or townships have no school, while 90 have no high school.

The state has set a per-pupil tuition rate of $6,600, but towns can negotiate with schools for lower rates.

Six of the families involved in the suit send their teenagers to St. Dominic Regional High School in Auburn. One family sends its child to a public school. The eighth family home-schools its child.