
CV NEWS FEED // A federal court in Colorado has ruled in favor of Catholic schools in the state seeking to be included in its new universal preschool (UPK) program.
According to a local Denver Catholic report, the second federal court ruled on June 5 that the State of Colorado unlawfully discriminated against Catholic preschools by refusing to include them in the benefit program due to their religious beliefs.
The two Catholic preschools named in the lawsuit filed by Becket in August 2023 had appealed to the federal court in Denver to “stop the Department of Early Childhood from excluding them from the UPK program,” the report stated.
The UPK program provides funding for 15 hours of free preschooling per week to over 40,000 families in the state whose children attend private, public, and faith based schools.
However, the state denied the funding to St Mary’s and St Bernadette’s Catholic preschools because they consider religious affiliation in their enrollment process.
The court explained in its decision that the state’s effort to restrict funding from these schools “created an unworkable scheme that breaches the appropriate limits on state power,” and that the defense had not supplied “compelling interest” for the exclusion.
“Of course a Catholic school shouldn’t be punished for caring about its students’ religion,” Nick Reaves, counsel at Becket, told Colorado Catholic.
The religious liberty law firm notes in its snapshot of the case that parents who sent their children to Catholic schools previously excluded from the program had to pay around $600 more per month than parents who send their children to non-faith based schools.
