The Supreme Court will decide whether Colorado can promise free preschool to every family and still leave out the Catholic schools many families choose.
Story Snapshot
- The Supreme Court heard the Catholic preschools’ challenge to Colorado’s pre-K rules on Tuesday, November 3.
- Colorado says any school that takes program money must give every family an equal chance to enroll.
- The parishes say the rule forces them to choose between their faith and a public benefit.
- Lower courts sided with Colorado; a Supreme Court ruling is expected by early July.
- Becket says enrollment at Archdiocese of Denver schools has fallen 20% since the program started, and two schools have closed.
- At Tuesday’s argument, the Court’s conservative majority appeared sympathetic to the Catholic preschools, Reuters reported.
What The Case Is About
On Tuesday, November 3, the Supreme Court heard arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a fight over Colorado’s free universal preschool program, known as UPK. The Archdiocese of Denver and two parishes, St. Mary in Littleton and St. Bernadette in Lakewood, say the state locked their preschools out because they enroll only families who support Church teaching on marriage and family. The other side of the case is Lisa Roy, who runs Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood.
The reason for the fight is one rule. Every school in the program must accept children regardless of religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, along with other protected traits. The Catholic preschools applied for funding and asked for a religious exemption. The state turned them down, and the schools sued under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, the part of the Constitution that protects the right to practice one’s faith.
What Families Have Lost
The program pays for up to 15 hours a week of free preschool for 4-year-olds. Families who choose a Catholic preschool get none of that help. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm representing the parishes, says plaintiffs Dan and Lisa Sheley must pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for their children’s Catholic preschool.
Becket also says enrollment at schools run by the Archdiocese of Denver has fallen 20% since the program started, and two schools have closed. The parishes say that is the real cost of being left out of a program that calls itself universal.
How Colorado Defends The Rule
Colorado says the Catholic preschools “remain welcome to participate,” as long as they are “subject to the same equal-opportunity requirements” as everyone else. Religious schools can still teach their faith, the state says, but they cannot refuse families. More than 79 faith-based schools have joined the program and agreed to its terms, according to Jax Gonzalez of One Colorado, an LGBTQ advocacy group. “Colorado’s rule is simple: If you take public money to teach kids, you serve every kid,” Gonzalez said.
A federal judge ruled for the state in June 2024, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appeals court that covers Colorado, agreed in 2025. Both courts found the rule applies to every school the same way and does not target religion.
Why This Matters Beyond Colorado
The parishes call this “an uncomplicated” case under a 2022 ruling that struck down Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a tuition program. They also argue that Colorado lets some schools give priority to low-income children and children with disabilities, so the rule is not truly the same for everyone. Colorado says those preferences serve its equal-access goal and are not real exceptions.
The case could also reach a 1990 ruling, Employment Division v. Smith, which held that faith alone does not excuse a person from a law that applies to everyone. The Trump administration and Republican-led states filed briefs backing the parishes. Several Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., back Colorado.
What The Justices Said
At Tuesday’s argument, the Court’s conservative majority appeared sympathetic to the Catholic preschools, Reuters reported, though some justices questioned the parishes’ main argument. Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the laws struck down in earlier religious-school cases “expressly discriminated against religious schools on its face,” adding, “That’s not the case here.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor told the Justice Department lawyer backing the parishes, “What you’re basically saying is, we can exclude people merely because exposure to them would cause us harm.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the parishes were asking for “a special rule for religious schools.” The justices have not ruled.
What To Watch Next
The justices will decide whether Colorado’s rule is a fair condition for public money or a burden on faith that must meet the Constitution’s toughest test, called “strict scrutiny.” A ruling for the parishes could open publicly funded programs nationwide to faith-based schools that keep their own admissions standards. For Catholic families in Colorado, it will decide whether a free preschool program truly includes them.
Sources:
sentinelcolorado.com, scotusblog.com, cbsnews.com, supremecourt.gov, cdec.colorado.gov
