At the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this morning, attorneys for Bangor Christian Schools presented their case for participating in Maine’s school choice tuition program.
Maine has a longstanding program that allows parents in rural areas without public schools to send their children to private schools instead, with the state paying the tuition for those students. But beginning in 1981, the state specifically excluded religious schools from that program if they were “sectarian,” meaning if they taught anything more specific than “universal spiritual values.”
Three families who wanted to send their children to Christian schools challenged that policy. Their case was called Carson v. Makin, and in 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the families, saying that by excluding those schools, the tuition program “effectively penalizes the free exercise of religion.”
With the sectarian exclusion rendered unenforceable, the state then made what the school’s attorneys call “an end-run” around the Supreme Court decision, in order to continue excluding schools such as Bangor Christian.
The school, which is a ministry of Crosspoint Church, holds to and teaches Biblical values, and it requires students, parents and staff to adhere to the school’s Biblically based code of conduct. That code prohibits students from, among other things, engaging in immoral conduct, including sexual activity outside of marriage as defined in the statement of faith, or identifying as a gender other than their biological sex.
The state’s “end-run” was to pass a law that excludes from the tuition program any schools that “discriminate” against LGBTQ+ students. The law would require Bangor Christian Schools, if it were to participate in the tuition program, either to violate its religious beliefs or face significant fines if it continued to teach from a Biblical perspective or require adherence to the school’s statement of faith and religious educational mission.
In today’s hearing, attorneys from First Liberty Institute and Consovoy McCarthy, who represent the church and school, asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court decision that upheld the state law.
“Maine excluded religious schools from its school choice program for over 40 years, but the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Carson v. Makin that such religious discrimination is unconstitutional,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, in a press release following the hearing. “Now, our clients would be punished with heavy fines if they hold to their religious beliefs. We hope the court puts an end to Maine’s tactics, which are odious to our Constitution.”
Photo: Bangor Christian School website