A 1952 Supreme Court decision gave Washington State’s Everett School District the legal framework to let students attend off-campus Bible classes.
This week, the district agreed to pay a steep price for how it treated a program operating under that framework.
The Everett school board voted to approve a settlement with LifeWise Academy. Just the News reported the vote, which closes a lawsuit the group filed against the district.
The 1952 ruling permits religious instruction away from campus during school hours.
Two conditions apply: private funds must cover the cost, and parents must consent. LifeWise meets both, according to the organization.
LifeWise had run its classes in Everett for several years without a legal fight. Then the board adopted a new set of rules, and the group’s leadership objected to them.
Joel Penton, the organization’s CEO, described the rules to Fox News.
One required children to carry any Bible or worksheet back to school in a sealed envelope. Penton said the district wanted to prevent other students from being “exposed to them.”
Another rule changed how parents approved participation. Instead of signing one permission slip for a semester or a year, they had to hand-deliver a new slip every week.
The district also kept LifeWise out of certain community fairs. Other groups could still attend those events.
Penton said the weekly slip requirement made the program unworkable for many households.
Parents, he said, also told him their children felt they were being told to hide their faith “as though it was something to be ashamed of.”
LifeWise says it tried to settle the matter with the district before going to court. When those efforts failed, the group sued.
A federal judge sided with LifeWise in April. The ruling granted a preliminary injunction and concluded that the district had engaged in viewpoint discrimination.
The settlement now ends the case entirely.
Its terms fall into four parts: religious liberty training for board members, changes to district policy on religious activities, a written public apology, and $275,000 in attorney’s fees.
The district must keep that apology on its website for six months.
The text says comments made at board meetings “were offensive and hurtful to the families participating in LifeWise programming.”
The record of those meetings includes a statement from one board member.
“I do in fact hold animus,” the member said, directing the remark at a group described as “homophobic bullies” seeking “an authoritarian theocracy.”
The apology also affirms that the district values the right of families to raise their children according to their own beliefs.
It extends regrets to anyone who came away feeling that their religious beliefs did not merit respect.
The district posted its own statement as well.
In it, officials said they revised the student-release guidelines to comply with the settlement and that they respect the preliminary injunction.
Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty, said religious discrimination has no place in public schools.
She called the outcome a victory for release-time programs, which allow students to leave campus for religious instruction during the school day.
Penton also welcomed the settlement.
He called it a welcome victory for Everett families who want the same access and respect given to other optional programs.
