Saint Dominic Academy Website
CV NEWS FEED // A district judge ruled against a Maine Catholic school on Aug. 8, deciding that the state can continue barring Catholic schools from participating in a taxpayer-funded tuition program that serves rural families.
St. Dominic Academy in Auburn, Maine, sued the Maine Department of Education in June 2023 after the state legislature amended the Maine Human Rights Act in 2021 to require schools that received state funds to allow all forms of religious expression.
The amendment came shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1982 Maine law that had excluded religious schools from participating in the state’s tuition assistance program.
The tuition program allows families living in rural areas without access to public schools to send their children to nearby private schools instead. Under the 1982 law, however, religious schools were not eligible to participate in the tuition program.
Though the law was struck down in 2021, St. Dominic objects that it still cannot participate in the program under the legislature’s Maine Human Rights Act amendment from the same year, as the law could force the school to go against Catholic teaching. The amendment gives power over religious schools to the Maine Human Rights Commission, which would dictate how St. Dominic teaches students about issues such as preferred pronouns or same-sex couples.
“Maine is punishing schools like St. Dominic because of their commitment to providing a holistic education in accordance with their beliefs,” the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the academy, stated in a case summary at the time. “It is also punishing rural families who want to use the tuition program to send their children to faith-based schools.”
St. Dominic sued for religious discrimination, requesting, among other things, a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the 2021 amendment from being enforced. However, Judge John Woodcock of the United States District Court for the District of Maine denied the academy’s request on Aug. 8, 2024.
According to Maine Public, Woodcock said that St. Dominic didn’t show that the law was passed to “impede or constrain religion.” He added that it was meant “to prohibit only discriminatory conduct.” Maine Public also reported that Woodcock said St. Dominic would be free to “conduct morning prayers however it wants, teach from a Catholic perspective, and promote Catholicism to the exclusion of all other religions.”
Adele Keim, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, expressed disappointment at Woodcock’s ruling and said they plan to appeal.
“[W]e think that other judges, taking a fresh look in light of long-standing Supreme Court case, civil rights law, will find in favor of our clients,” Keim said, according to Maine Public.
