{"id":877,"date":"2026-07-13T14:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:09:10","slug":"colorado-denies-funding-to-preschoolers-on-account-of-their-catholic-faith-lawsuit-alleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Denies Funding To Preschoolers On Account Of Their Catholic Faith, Lawsuit Alleges"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For many families, there is a clear answer to the question of who they trust to help them raise their children: a school that shares their mission \u2014 a genuine partner in a child\u2019s education. But some families in Colorado are being denied that opportunity, a case the Supreme Court will hear next term.<\/p>\n

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Colorado\u2019s Universal Preschool program offers 15 free hours of preschool per week to every 4-year-old in the state \u2014 except those who choose a Catholic school. The state excluded them for refusing to sign a provider agreement that would violate their religious beliefs. Two parishes \u2014 St. Mary and St. Bernadette \u2014 the Archdiocese of Denver, and the Sheley family have challenged that exclusion.<\/p>\n

The case turns on two questions. The first is whether Colorado\u2019s program is truly open to everyone \u2014 or whether its many exceptions tell a different story. Colorado lets preschools restrict enrollment to children with disabilities, to low-income families, or to LGBT families. Yet when Catholic schools asked for a similar accommodation, the state said no. A program that bends for everyone except religious schools is not neutral \u2014 it is targeted, triggering the Constitution\u2019s toughest legal test.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second question is whether a state can achieve religious discrimination indirectly \u2014 not by saying, \u201cCatholic schools need not apply,\u201d but by attaching conditions it knows Catholic schools cannot meet. Colorado argues it excludes these preschools not for being Catholic, but for how they operate. That distinction does not hold. When a school\u2019s practices flow directly from its religious beliefs, penalizing what it does is the same as penalizing what it believes. The Supreme Court has already said states cannot do this. Either way, Colorado must show a compelling reason for the exclusion \u2014 and a general interest in nondiscrimination isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

Those are the questions the Supreme Court will wrestle with this fall. Some families waiting for answers have filed a with the court to share their stories.<\/p>\n

Jill Hall built a florist business to pay for preschool at Our Lady of Lourdes in Denver after her family lost tuition assistance \u2014 and three of her children attended. Her youngest couldn\u2019t attend because Colorado\u2019s program left her outside the only option that made it affordable. \u201cI\u2019m not choosing something so extreme. I\u2019m choosing just a faith,\u201d Jill said, \u201cand I\u2019m being punished for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Andy Abols is an account executive whose daughter Reese, 9, has spina bifida. The family stays in Colorado for her Medicaid coverage. He pays for his 4-year-old\u2019s preschool at St. Mary\u2019s out of pocket while his taxes fund free preschool for other families \u2014 every tuition dollar is a dollar not saved for Reese\u2019s next surgery. \u201cI\u2019m moving backwards to protect our children\u2019s minds and instill virtue,\u201d he says. \u201cWhich I\u2019m glad to do, but I shouldn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana Karen Mier pulled her eldest from public school after bullying made the child refuse to get out of bed. She found St. Therese Catholic Classical School in Aurora and has traded vacations for tuition for seven years. Her 4-year-old, being evaluated for a speech delay, cannot enroll. Without UPK Colorado, the cost is out of reach.<\/p>\n

Melissa De La Cruz spent years working for Catholic Charities as an early childhood specialist. When it came time for her own four children, she chose Notre Dame Parish School. To make tuition work, she left a better-paying career to become Notre Dame\u2019s registrar \u2014 trading income for tuition help. \u201cWhat I make at the school is not what I could possibly be making at another employer,\u201d she says. She\u2019s watched other families leave over the cost. UPK Colorado would change that \u2014 if Catholic schools were allowed in.<\/p>\n

The Catholic tradition is clear about what these parents are doing. Pope Paul VI declared 60 years ago that parents \u201care bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring.\u201d The Catechism calls the right to choose a school matching their convictions \u201cfundamental\u201d \u2014 the animating principle behind every sacrifice in those four stories.<\/p>\n

What makes Colorado\u2019s policy so striking is not merely that it excludes religious schools. It is that it requires religious parents to pay a steeper price than everyone else \u2014 simply because of what they believe. The law calls that unconstitutional. These families call it what it feels like: punishment.<\/p>\n

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The suit argues that Colorado\u2019s policy doesn’t just exclude religious schools; it requires religious parents to pay more than everyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[1314,236,122,2791,923,413,2792,2139,2793,57],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotus","tag-catholic-charities","tag-catholicism","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-universal-preschool","tag-discrimination","tag-first-amendment","tag-preschool","tag-religious-freedom","tag-tuition","tag-u-s-constitution"],"yoast_head":"\nColorado Denies Funding To Preschoolers On Account Of Their Catholic Faith, Lawsuit Alleges - Property Transition Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=877\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado Denies Funding To Preschoolers On Account Of Their Catholic Faith, Lawsuit Alleges - 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