In August, after Colorado preschools started their universal preschool program’s first day of school, the program and other Colorado education organizations were hit with lawsuits.
In the first, six Colorado school districts and two educational organizations sued Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado State Board of Education, Education Commissioner Susana Cordova and Colorado Department of Early Childhood and their Executive Director Lisa Roy in Denver’s district court.
The group said they filed their lawsuit because the current Colorado universal preschool model’s lack of access to information from the Department of Early Childhood, last-minute changes in funding and issues surrounding students with disabilities are hurting their ability to run successful and effective preschool programs.
The plaintiffs in the case are Brighton School District 27-J, Cherry Creek School District, Harrison School District 2, Mapleton Public Schools, Platte Valley School District, Westminster Public Schools, Colorado Association of School Executives and the Consortium of Director of Special Education.
Soon, another lawsuit followed. This time, a firm called the Becket Fund filed a federal lawsuit to “protect” the ability of Catholic preschools to be part of the state’s universal program.
According to the plaintiffs, some faith-based preschools are reportedly ineligible to take part in the universal preschool program and funding because they “prioritize Catholic admissions and have religious expectations for teachers.”
The preschools specifically noted in the lawsuit were preschools run by St. Mary’s and St. Bernadette’s Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver.
They said this exclusion was “unconstitutional” and made it harder to compete with preschools that will receive state funding.
“Universal should mean universal,” said Nick Reaves, counsel at Becket. Colorado is slamming the door on hundreds of parents that need help sending their kids to preschool, all because the schools that are best for their kids reflect their beliefs. We are asking the court to stop Colorado’s campaign against preschoolers and the schools that want to serve them. Families should be free to choose the private school that best meets their needs – whether it is secular or religious.”
Becket pointed to three different Supreme Court cases that say religious schools cannot be excluded from programs that include scholarships, funding and other resources received by schools.
Parents “should be free to choose to send their kids to a Catholic preschool without forfeiting a public benefit, especially one the state has described as universal,” Becket said.
Filed separately, a lawsuit by the Consortium of Directors of Special Education and the Denver Archdiocese go after another part of universal preschool.
Universal preschool requires schools that participate in its funding to “accept applicants no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity and religious affiliation,” something which the plaintiffs said violates their First Amendment rights.
Conor Cahill, Polis’ spokesperson, said parents favor parent choice in preschools.
“While it’s unfortunate to see different groups of adults attempting to co-opt preschool for themselves, perhaps because they want to not allow gay parents to send their kids to preschool, or they want to favor school district programs over community-based early childhood centers, the voters were clear on their support for parent choice and a universal, mixed delivery system that is independently run, that doesn’t discriminate against anyone and offers free preschool to every child no matter who their parents are,” Cahill said.
In Mancos School District’s board meeting in August, Superintendent Todd Cordrey briefly mentioned the impending lawsuits while talking about their district’s preschool, noting that it would be difficult to know how the lawsuits would affect current funding in the preschools until the court cases run their course.
