Three California families are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a challenge to a state charter school policy that bars religious materials from being used in publicly funded independent-study and homeschool programs.
The First Liberty Institute, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and King & Spalding LLP filed a petition last week on behalf of John and Breanna Woolard, Hector and Diana Gonzales, and Carrie Dodson in John Woolard, et al. v. Tony Thurmond et al.
The dispute centers on whether California may permit charter schools to withhold funding and academic credit when parents choose educational resources containing religious content.
“The charter schools overseeing petitioners’ independent-study programs rejected the use of works by William Penn and Jonathan Edwards because of their ‘religious content,’” the petition alleged.
According to ReligiousLiberty.TV, the families also wanted to use curricula such as Bob Jones University’s “Focus on Fives” and “The Good and the Beautiful,” both of which incorporate religious instruction into traditional academic subjects.
“They rejected a grammar exercise using the sentence ‘God sends the rain to help plants grow’ because the school ‘can’t accept any work sample with any religious wording on it.’”
California’s constitution imposes restrictions on public support for sectarian education. Article 9, Section 8 states, “No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian [religious] or denominational school, or any school not under the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools; nor shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or instruction thereon be permitted, directly or indirectly, in any of the common schools of this State.”
School officials have also relied on California Education Code § 47605(e)(1), which states that “a charter school shall be nonsectarian in its programs.”
Because California charter schools operate as part of the state’s public education system, they are subject to restrictions on the use of public funds for instruction deemed sectarian.
The legal challenge began in October 2023, when parents whose children participated in independent-study programs through Blue Ridge Academy and Visions in Education sued the state over the policy.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the lawsuit argued that parents participating in those programs should be permitted to incorporate Christian instruction into their children’s education.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit unanimously rejected the families’ claims last September, affirming an earlier ruling by the district court. The panel consisted of Judges Andrew D. Hurwitz, Eric Miller and Jennifer Sung.
The families later sought rehearing before the full Ninth Circuit. “We are hopeful that the full Court will grant rehearing and come to the right decision, restoring protection for bedrock First Amendment principles,” said Alexander Kazam, co-counsel at King & Spalding, according to the California Family Council. After that request was unsuccessful, the families turned to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is expected to resume private conferences on Sept. 28 to decide which cases it will hear, with its new term beginning Oct. 5. According to The Washington Examiner, the justices could decide as early as this fall whether to take up Woolard v. Thurmond.
