With ACLU backing, Presbyterian pastors join fight against proposed religious charter school
K-8 school, if approved, would use taxpayer funds to support ‘Christian formation’
Pastors of two Presbyterian churches in Knox County, Tenn., have received the support of the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations in filing a motion along with other parents trying to prevent the local school district from creating the nation’s first publicly funded evangelical Christian school.
The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville, which hopes to educate students in kindergarten through eighth grade, filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 to force the Knox County Board of Education to grant it a charter. If approved, public tax funds would be used to fully fund a religious ministry, shattering national legal precedent that has long sharply limited the extent to which religious schools receive financial support from taxpayers.
Wilberforce’s plans raise the same legal issues that faced the U.S. Supreme Court last year when it upheld — on a 4-4 vote — an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the creation of a publicly funded charter school operated by two Catholic dioceses. The tie vote was possible because one of the high court’s justices, Amy Coney Barrett, recused herself, apparently because of indirect connections with the Oklahoma school and/or its legal team. If Wilberforce’s case makes it to the Supreme Court, the school’s supporters hope that Barrett could swing their court to their side.
The case is The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. the Knox County Board of Education. The dispute is before the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee Northern Division.
The two pastors are the Rev. Dr. Richard Coble from the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tenn., and the Rev. Dr. Katina Sharp of the Powell Presbyterian Church in Powell, Tenn. Both have children in the school district. Three other county residents are filed the motion last week to intervene in the case, a request which was approved by the court this week. Both churches are affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), a mainline Protestant denomination.
The intervenors have the support of the ACLU of Tennessee, the Education Law Center, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and the Southern Poverty Law Center — all of which have been major players in various civil rights actions. The law firm Morrison Foerster is providing pro bono assistance.
According to the ACLU, Coble, the father of two children in the school district, explained his support for the legal action this way:
The Reformed tradition in which I am formed has long supported the separation of church and state, believing that our faith, and all faiths, are best supported when they are free of undue state interference. This is why I object to the use of tax dollars to support religious education of any kind, including my own religion. Religious education is the job of churches, denominations, and private religious schools.
According to the proposed charter school’s website, the school would offer an education where “Christian formation is woven throughout school life” and include Bible stories in early grades with theological study in later grades, scripture memorization, daily prayer, and the fostering of “spiritual growth alongside academic excellence.”
Because of the taxpayer funding, the school says it would offer its religious education without charging tuition.
The federal court, in approving the request to intervene, said that the parties “demonstrated direct and concrete interests in: (1) preventing the potential unlawful use of taxpayer funds to establish religion and (2) ensuring that their children’s education is not diminished by the diversion of funds to religious schools.”
Proposal for Jewish school in Oklahoma headed to court
Update: Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter school board has rejected, as expected, a charter requested by the Florida-based National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter Foundation, which wanted the charter for a proposed virtual Jewish high school of about 40 students.
The board rejected the proposal Feb. 9, citing the earlier Oklahoma Supreme Court decision rejecting the proposed Catholic charter school.
The Becket law firm, representing the Jewish school, immediately said it would appeal the decision to court.
There is no way to know whether the proposed Tennessee charter school or the one in Oklahoma — if either one — will be the next religious charter school to have its plans tested before the U.S. Supreme Court. But that the court will face the issue seems all but inevitable in light of last year’s 4-4 decision, which set no legal precedent. Legal advocates for such schools are expected to base their arguments to a great extent on the high court’s 2022 Makin v. Carson decision, which found that states providing education vouchers cannot discriminate against religious schools.