New Christian school challenges Colorado’s ban on public funding

A Christian school in Pueblo, Colorado, has reopened the debate on whether sectarian schools should be able to receive public funds.

Riverstone Academy, which opened this fall, is advertising itself as a “tuition-free public contract school” rooted in classical and Christian principles. It is supported by Education ReEnvisioned, one of Colorado’s 21 Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES).

These government-run agencies operate regionally to provide a variety of services to schools, such as professional development or special education programs. In other states, they are called Educational Service Agencies. 

After Riverstone Academy opened, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) sent a letter to Education ReEnvisioned, stating tax dollars couldn’t flow to any Christian school – citing Article IX of the Colorado Constitution, which says public funding cannot be given to sectarian institutions or causes. 

Article IX was born of a 19th-century anti-Catholic movement that led to constitutional amendments across the country, known as “Blaine Amendments,” banning public funds going to religious schools. Though the movement failed on the federal level, 37 states included such amendments in their constitutions. 

CDE’s letter concludes the nonsectarian requirement “is true regardless of whether [Education ReEnvisioned BOCES] operates the school directly or contracts with a private entity to provide the educational services.” 

However, Education ReEnvisioned argues denying service to a school based on its religious nature would constitute religious discrimination. 

“The U.S. Constitution prohibits discrimination against Riverstone solely on account of its religious affiliation as such exclusion from a generally available governmental benefit would be unconstitutional,” Ken Witt, executive director of Education ReEnvisioned, wrote in an email obtained by The Colorado Sun. 

“Multiple recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have made clear that the government cannot discriminate against a religious applicant, here a contracted school provider, when religious status would be the primary basis for exclusion.” 

Three recent Supreme Court cases – one of which was cited by Witt – have begun to unravel the anti-religious bias in public education funding. 

The cases were:  

• Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, in which a church operating a licensed daycare applied for a state grant to purchase recycled tires to surface playgrounds and was denied because of its religious nature. Trinity argued its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by religious discrimination and won in the Supreme Court by a 7-2 vote. 

• In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a low-income mother applied for a tax-credit scholarship for her child’s Christian school tuition. The Montana Department of Revenue refused, arguing scholarships couldn’t be used at religious schools. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the mother. 

• Last, in Carson v. Makin, several families sued the state of Maine for not allowing their children to use tuition assistance programs to attend private, religious schools despite the absence of a public school in their district. The Supreme Court ruled again that Maine could not exclude religious institutions from public funding simply because they are religious. 

As school choice sweeps the nation, more parents are using scholarships such as those offered in Montana and Maine to enroll their children in private and parochial schools. 

Riverstone Academy’s Executive Director Quin Friberg explained the school is seeking to meet the needs of families who want a classical and religious education without a four-figure price tag. 

“I think the big philosophical element of Riverstone is parents should have the right to send their kids to a wider variety of options than we have right now,” Friberg told The Colorado Sun. 

“We believe there are parents who have a desire for this type of a school, not only the religious element but also the hands-on element in an elementary setting. So we decided we would try to provide it to the community.” 

If Riverstone Academy faces constitutional challenges, it could follow in the footsteps of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which tried to launch a religious charter school in Oklahoma. 

Its opponents made similar arguments as the CDE – that a school receiving public funding shouldn’t be sectarian, so as not to violate the state constitution or “establish a religion” as forbidden in the First Amendment. 

However, St. Isidore argued having a charter contract did not make the school a government actor and therefore was not an instance of the government establishing religion. Instead, excluding religious groups from publicly available programs could be discrimination. 

The case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court where a 4-4 ruling left the prior ruling against St. Isidore in place, after the recusal of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.