The Colorado Department of Early Childhood funded 15 hours per week of free preschool to more than 40,000 families attending private, public, or faith-based preschools in its first year of operation but denied these benefits to families who send their children to St. Mary’s or St. Bernadette’s because the schools take the families’ religious affiliation into consideration during the application process, according to the Becket press release.
The court found on June 4 that Colorado had “created an unworkable scheme that breaches the appropriate limits on state power,” according to the judge’s 101-page opinion.
The administration’s denial was based on the department’s equal opportunity clause, but the state had allowed certain exemptions from this for other religious preschools.
“The department has allowed faith-based providers to deny children and families equal opportunity based on their religious affiliation, or lack thereof,” wrote Colorado district judge John Kane in the opinion, “and has cited no compelling interest for permitting that discrimination while denying plaintiffs’ request for a related exemption.”
“Catholic schools must be free to ensure that their students and families are open to and supportive of the Catholic Church’s religious teachings,” Reaves noted. “Religious schools and families should never be excluded by the state for their beliefs.”
Colorado’s participation requirements, the August 2023 lawsuit argued, “would categorically exclude all Archdiocese of Denver Catholic preschools because of the Catholic Church’s sincere and long-held religious beliefs.”
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