Protestant churches who have used public school space in NYC and who were eventually prohibited from using them will get a second chance for now. The City of New York with Bloomberg and Quinn have strongly opposed the use of public schools to house religious services on weekends. They cite "separate of Church/State" as the main reason and claim that it is not fair that tax payers are paying for their use. A judge placed a restraining order on the City's rule.
The situation is tricky indeed. I don't see the issue as pertaining to "separation of Church/State" because public schools were originally intended to indoctrinate Christian morals onto American youth. Horace Mann established Common schools which educated youth with public money. At the time, the Bible was also taught. Prayers were said.
Bishop John Hughes of New York protested the idea because Catholic youth were being indoctrinated with Protestantism. This lead to the creation of the Parochial school system.
Religion and prayer were always part of the public school system. However, I don't think tax payers should pay for services held on weekends. Protestant churches show pay some rent for their use.
Source:
http://www.norwoodnews.org/id=8266&story=judge-bronx-household-of-faith-other-churches-allowed-to-use-public-school-space/
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