Centennial State News

Alliance Defending Freedom recently announced that they are offering legal representation to a Christian preschool in Colorado fighting a state mandate requiring them to remove religion from their classes. The lawsuit, filed on June 20, challenges a Colorado universal preschool program that goes into effect July 1.

“The Constitution is clear: The government may not deny participation in a public program simply due to a school’s internal religious exercise,” ADF’s senior counsel Jeremiah Galus said in a press release issued by the organization. “The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed this principle in 2017, 2020, and 2022. Darren Patterson Christian Academy has been serving Chaffee County families for over 40 years. Colorado officials are violating the school’s First Amendment rights by forcing it to abandon its religious beliefs — the reason why parents choose to send their kids to the school — to receive critical state funding.”

Darren Patterson Christian Academy in Buena Vista, Colo., was one of many schools to apply for and be accepted to participate in the state’s new universal preschool program which promises all four year old students in the state a minimum of 15 hours of educational services each week for the 2023-2024 school year, according to the press release.

“The state encouraged all licensed Colorado preschools — including Darren Patterson Christian Academy, which operates a state-licensed, Christian preschool called “Busy Bees” — to register for the program,” the press release said. “The school is just one of a few offering a Christian education in Chaffee County and has served the community since 1982.”

The Colorado Department of Education will force all participating schools to abide by two state rules which prohibit discrimination by religion, “sexual orientation,” or “gender identity,” according to the press release. The school does not want to abandon its religious beliefs, which the families that choose to enroll in the school also believe in and trust the school to uphold.

“Colorado officials are unconstitutionally forcing Darren Patterson Christian Academy to make the untenable choice of adhering to its religious beliefs and forfeiting participation in an otherwise generally available public program or surrendering its beliefs to participate equally with other preschools in the state,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jake Reed, according to the press release. “We urge the court to affirm that the First Amendment fully protects the school’s right to operate according to its faith and still join the state’s preschool program.” 

The federal lawsuit is against Lisa Roy, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and Dawn Odean, the director of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program. It claims that forcing the school to choose between following their religious beliefs or being forcibly excluded from the state program they have been accepted to is unconstitutional, particularly after the state denied their religious exception request.