#USA #CO – A Colorado mother said state officials denied her family about $12,000 in preschool benefits because she chose a Catholic school for her children, and the dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Erika Nagle, a mother of three whose children attended St. Mary Catholic School in Littleton, told reporters that two of her children were excluded from Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program. The program, which voters approved in 2020 and the state launched in 2023, offered eligible four-year-olds up to 15 hours of free preschool each week at participating public or private providers. Officials valued the benefit at more than $6,000 per child per year.
Nagle said the exclusion amounted to religious discrimination. “We are being excluded from this benefit because we are Catholic,” she said. “And so in a state that preaches inclusion, they are actively going out of their way to exclude a huge chunk of people because of our religious beliefs.”
At the center of the conflict was a nondiscrimination agreement that participating preschools had to sign. The agreement required providers to offer equal enrollment opportunity regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, income level, disability, or housing status. Faith-based schools could prioritize families of the same faith, but Colorado did not allow them to turn away families based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Catholic preschools in the Archdiocese of Denver, including St. Mary’s, declined to sign. Church officials said their religious practices required them to ensure enrolling families supported Catholic teachings on marriage, sex, and gender, and to treat children according to their biological sex. The state therefore kept the schools out of the funding program. The Archdiocese, two parish preschools, and parent plaintiffs sued, arguing that the policy violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
Lower courts sided with the state. A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that the nondiscrimination rule was neutral and generally applicable under the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith. They held that Colorado had not categorically barred religious schools and that the condition applied equally to all providers. The courts applied rational-basis review and upheld the program.
The plaintiffs, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, petitioned the Supreme Court. They contended that the exclusion conflicted with the Court’s 2022 ruling in Carson v. Makin, which held that a state cannot deny otherwise available public education funding to religious schools because of their religious character or exercise. They also argued that the program was not generally applicable because it allowed various secular enrollment preferences, including for low-income families and children with disabilities, while refusing a religious accommodation.
Colorado maintained that religious schools remained welcome to participate if they followed the same equal-opportunity rules as every other provider. Officials said the state did not prohibit religious teaching; it simply required that publicly funded seats be open on equal terms. The state argued that the secular preferences advanced the program’s goals of access for vulnerable children and did not create comparable exemptions that would trigger strict scrutiny.
The Supreme Court agreed in April 2026 to hear the case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, limited to two questions about the application of Smith and Carson. Oral arguments were scheduled for November 3rd, 2026. Advocates on both sides said the outcome could shape how other states design preschool or voucher programs that include religious providers while enforcing nondiscrimination rules.
Becket and the families reported that Catholic preschool enrollment in the archdiocese had fallen nearly 20 percent after the program began, and that some schools had closed. Nagle and other parents said they simply wanted the same choice the state advertised for everyone else. Colorado officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.
| See more: > U.S. Supreme Court to hear trial on rights to construct religious structures on self-owned property |
Cover Image: A statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus at St. Mary’s Catholic Parish, the plaintiffs in this case.
