The Archdiocese of Denver, a Catholic family in Colorado, and several local Catholic preschools this month appealed to the United States Supreme Court in their case seeking inclusion in the state’s universal preschool program (UPK) after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled against them Sept. 30.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is serving as counsel for the plaintiffs, announced the appeal in a Nov. 14 press release, explaining that when the UPK program was launched, state officials established restrictions that effectively “excluded all parish preschools because they ask families who enroll to be supportive of their Catholic faith.”
All participating schools are required to sign a nondiscrimination agreement that the plaintiff parish preschools argue conflict with their sincerely held beliefs, CatholicVote previously reported.
Participating schools are required to “provide eligible children an equal opportunity to enroll and receive preschool services regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, lack of housing, income level, or disability, as such characteristics and circumstances apply to the child or the child’s family,” according to the appellate court’s ruling.
The ruling explained that the plaintiff schools believe “that Catholic teaching requires them to consider the sexual orientation and gender identity of a student and their parents before admitting them to a Catholic school” and that the archdiocese holds “that enrolling a child of same-sex parents in a Catholic school is ‘likely to lead to intractable conflicts.’”
The Becket Fund argues in the release that the ruling contradicts recent Supreme Court decisions that ruled “states cannot exclude religious schools from public benefits because of their religious exercise.”
The Supreme Court is expected to decide in early 2026 whether to take the case, according to the release.
“Our preschools exist to help parents who want an education rooted in the Catholic faith for their children,” Scott Elmer, the archdiocese’s chief mission officer, said in the release. “All we ask is for the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that’s available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado.”
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