A private Christian preschool in Colorado is suing the heads of two governmental departments over requirements attached to the school receiving government funds related to a universal preschool program.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy – one of the few Christian schools in Chaffee County, Colorado – operates a state-licensed preschool called “Busy Bees.” The school was accepted into the Colorado government’s brand-new universal preschool program (UPK), which guarantees every 4-year-old in the state at least 15 hours per week of state-funded preschool, but later learned of the governmental program’s nondiscrimination provisions involving employment decisions and gender orientation.
The lawsuit alleges that the government is requiring the school to “forgo their religious character, beliefs, and exercise to participate in UPK.”
“So even though the school welcomes all families and children,” the lawsuit reads, “these provisions would force it to hire employees who do not share its faith and to alter internal rules and policies that are based on the school’s religious beliefs about sexuality and gender, including those that relate to restroom usage, pronouns, dress codes, and student housing during school expeditions and field trips.”
A request from the school for a religious exemption was denied.
The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of the school by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The lawsuit alleges that the school will be denied state funding unless it adopts practices that violate the religious beliefs of school employees.
ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus said the Constitution clearly prohibits the government from denying “participation in a public program simply due to a school’s internal religious exercise” and “Colorado officials are violating the school’s First Amendment rights.”
The lawsuit lists Lisa Roy and Dawn Odean as the defendants in the civil suit. Roy is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. Odean is the Director of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program.
Colorado has been the site of other cases involving ADF, including the Jack Phillips cake case and a recent Supreme Court victory for a website designer who refuses to create websites celebrating same-sex “weddings.”
