A Christian charter school sued the Knox County Board of Education last week, challenging Tennessee state law that prevents religious groups from participating in the state’s charter school program.
Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville is challenging Tennessee state law that prevents religious groups from participating in its charter school program.
The Christian charter school said it’s being discriminated against because it’s not allowed to participate in the program.
The charter school said it does not have a “fair opportunity to establish a charter school” under state law.
Wilberforce Academy said it submitted a letter of intent for its charter school, but it can’t go further in the application process because Tennessee requires an applicant to “affirm” it will operate as a “nonsectarian, non-religious school,” the lawsuit stated. The academy attempted to apply to open for the 2027-2028 school year.
Wilberforce Academy noted it will provide a “biblical and Christian education,” adding that the school would be open to students of all faith backgrounds and that no student would have to “affirm Christian doctrine.” Education at the potential school would be based on a biblical foundation, civics education and an entrepreneurial program, the lawsuit said.
The charter school plans to be kindergarten through eighth grade, the lawsuit stated. If it were to open, the first year would be 100 kindergarten through first grade students, and then by its fifth year, 450 kindergarten through eighth grade students, according to the lawsuit.
Wilberforce Academy would open in Cedar Bluff, the lawsuit stated. By establishing this charter school, the lawsuit said the academy will “help alleviate” the pressure on other schools in the county that are near capacity.
In the lawsuit, the charter school argued the county’s enforcement of the state charter school law violates its First Amendment right to freely practice religion, also known as the Free Exercise Clause.
Wilberforce Academy alleged Tennessee law and board policies “discriminate against religious organizations by prohibiting the creation of religious charter schools that engage in religious instruction.”
On top of this, the lawsuit stated the board of education can provide individual exemptions for establishing a charter school.
“Because the board has authority ‘to grant exemptions based on the circumstances underlying each application,’ the First Amendment requires it to extend an exemption to Wilberforce Academy absent a ‘compelling reason’ to the contrary,” the lawsuit stated.
According to the lawsuit, the board of education lacks a compelling reason to insist that religious schools cannot participate in the charter school program.
“The Free Exercise Clause does not tolerate this arbitrary hostility toward religious claims,” it noted.
The lawsuit also said Tennessee’s requirement that charter schools be “nonsectarian is based on animosity toward religion.” Sectarian laws dating back to the 1870s are rooted in “bigotry” against religions such as Catholicism and Judaism that fall “outside of mainline Protestantism,” the lawsuit stated.
“Such provisions are presumptively unconstitutional acts of religious hostility to religion,” the lawsuit noted.
When legal cases involving religious charter schools have been brought to the Supreme Court, it has ruled in their favor in recent years, the lawsuit said.
“The Supreme Court has consistently struck down State efforts to exclude religious schools from participating in state programs to support private schools, including tuition assistance payments paid directly to the schools themselves,” the lawsuit stated.
It cited the cases of Carson v. Makin, Espinoza v. Montana, and Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer.
The lawsuit asked the court to place a permanent injunction on Tennessee law that prohibits religious schools from participating in the state’s charter school program.
Wilberforce Academy filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
