Cite as: 530 U. S. 793 (2000)
O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment
students on private school premises during regular school hours. Twelve years earlier, in Aguilar v. Felton, 473 U. S. 402 (1985), we had held the same New York City program unconstitutional. In Ball, a companion case to Aguilar, we also held that a similar program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, violated the Constitution. Our decisions in Aguilar and Ball were both based on a presumption, drawn in large part from Meek, see 421 U. S., at 367-373, that public-school instructors who teach secular classes on the campuses of religious schools will inevitably inculcate religion in their students.
In Agostini, we recognized that "[o]ur more recent cases [had] undermined the assumptions upon which Ball and Aguilar relied." 521 U. S., at 222. First, we explained that the Court had since abandoned "the presumption erected in Meek and Ball that the placement of public employees on parochial school grounds inevitably results in the impermissible effect of state-sponsored indoctrination or constitutes a symbolic union between government and religion." Id., at 223. Rather, relying on Zobrest, we explained that in the absence of evidence showing that teachers were actually using the Title I aid to inculcate religion, we would presume that the instructors would comply with the program's secular restrictions. See Agostini, 521 U. S., at 223-224, 226- 227. The Title I services were required by statute to be " 'secular, neutral, and nonideological.' " Id., at 210 (quoting 20 U. S. C. § 6321(a)(2)).
Second, we noted that the Court had "departed from the rule relied on in Ball that all government aid that directly assists the educational function of religious schools is invalid." Agostini, supra, at 225. Relying on Witters and Zobrest, we noted that our cases had taken a more forgiving view of neutral government programs that make aid available generally without regard to the religious or nonreligious character of the recipient school. See Agostini, 521 U. S., at 225-226. With respect to the specific Title I pro-
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