Christian preschool sues Colorado for program denial based on religious beliefs

A Christian preschool is suing Colorado over having to surrender its religious beliefs to participate in the state’s universal preschool program.

Busy Bees preschool, operated by the Darren Patterson Christian Academy, filed a federal lawsuit in June after the Colorado Department of Early Childhood denied the school’s religious exemption.

The state’s new Universal Preschool Program, or UPK, guarantees every 4-year-old in the state at least 15 hours a week for free in a registered preschool, according to CPR News. The lawsuit notes “all licensed preschools in the state were encouraged to register to participate.”

The academy applied and was approved for UPK on the basis that it adhered to the program’s policies and rules. But one of the state’s rules prohibits schools from discriminating against potential hires based on faith, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group representing the plaintiff, argued the policy would prevent the academy from operating “consistently with its religious beliefs.” Indeed, the school’s policy requires every employee to be a born-again Christian and uphold certain lifestyles in accordance with biblical teachings.

The Department denied the exemption, stating even religious schools must comply, leaving the academy with the choice to either forfeit participating in the public program or give up its deeply held beliefs to participate. 

Alliance Defending Freedom argues that choice is unconstitutional. 

“The Constitution is clear: religious schools can hire those who share their faith, and the government may not deny participation in a public program simply due to a school’s internal religious exercise,” the lawsuit states.

Since being approved for the UPK program Busy Bees has been matched with 17 children for the upcoming school year. Now the preschool is facing losing students and tuition reimbursement from the state.

The preschool enrolls any children who meet its enrollment criteria regardless of the families’ religious beliefs or backgrounds. 

The academy is asking for “declaratory and injunctive relief to remedy this religious discrimination and to allow it to participate in UPK without sacrificing its religious character, beliefs, or exercise.”