Key Takeaways
- Colorado is fighting to force a religious preschool to choose between its faith and funding.
- A federal court issued a permanent injunction, saying Colorado couldn’t enforce these rules. But the state appealed the ruling.
- The government cannot force religious schools to abandon their faith to participate in public benefit programs.
Preschools provide places where young children can begin their education and learn basic skills that will help them as they grow up. Government officials in Colorado recognized this, so when the state legislature passed a law establishing a universal preschool program in the state, it did so with the stated goal of providing more opportunities for Colorado children.
Unfortunately, the actions of some state officials have proven that politics, not children’s education, are most important to them. The state mandated that one Christian school change its policies—policies grounded in its religious character—and hire non-Christian employees to participate in the program. Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of the school to preserve its religious freedom.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy
Darren Patterson Christian Academy is a private Christian school in Buena Vista, Colorado. The school is named after a 14-year-old boy who was tragically killed by a drunk driver, and it was founded in 1982 to give children in the area an opportunity Darren Patterson never had—to receive a Christian education.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy has a preschool called “Busy Bees,” an elementary school, and a middle school. The school strives “to teach the truth about God” and “to present the Word of God as the authoritative source upon which to build a life that has purpose and meaning.” But the state of Colorado tried to punish the school for its Christian beliefs.
Colorado’s universal preschool program
In 2022, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a law creating a universal preschool program (UPK) that gives children in Colorado access to “preschool services free of charge in the school year before a child enrolls in kindergarten.”
Eligible children can receive 15 hours per week of preschool services funded by the government, and some children can qualify for more based on factors such as family income.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy applied to participate in the program soon after it was established. The school initially received approval, and students began being matched with Busy Bees Preschool through the program. But the school later learned that certain program conditions would force the school to violate its Christian beliefs.
An impossible choice
Colorado’s preschool program prohibited Darren Patterson from hiring only employees who share its religious beliefs and from aligning its internal policies on bathroom usage, dress codes, pronouns, and student lodging during field trips with its religious beliefs about sexuality and gender.
The school asked for a religious exemption, but Colorado refused. This left Darren Patterson Christian Academy with an impossible choice: give up its religious beliefs or be excluded from the universal preschool program because of those beliefs.
In June 2023, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of the school to protect its religious freedom.
Colorado is trying to reverse the school’s win
The First Amendment protects the right of religious schools to operate according to their faith, including setting policies grounded in their religious beliefs about sexuality and gender.
A federal district court agreed. In February 2025, the court ruled that Colorado could not enforce its rules—covering everything from bathroom use and dress codes to pronouns and student lodging—against Darren Patterson Christian Academy. The state, the court argued, had “offered no convincing explanation” why some schools could get exemptions to these rules and Darren Patterson Christian Academy couldn’t.
In May 2025, the state appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, asking the court to reverse the school’s victory and reinstate its ability to enforce these unconstitutional rules.
For now, however, the case is on hold. The 10th Circuit is waiting on the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a related case involving the same Colorado preschool program.
Thankfully, until then, the school’s win stands—but Colorado is actively working to take it away.
The bottom line
The government cannot force religious schools to abandon their religion to participate in a public benefit program like everyone else.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy v. Roy
- April 2022: Colorado passed a law establishing its universal preschool program, which went into effect in 2023. To participate in the program, religious schools like Darren Patterson Christian Academy must agree to rules that would force them to violate their beliefs.
- May 2023: Darren Patterson Christian Academy asked Colorado for a religious exemption that would allow it to participate in the program without violating its beliefs, but it was denied.
- June 2023: ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on the school’s behalf.
- October 2023: A federal district court ruled to allow the school to participate in the program consistent with its religious beliefs while the lawsuit proceeded.
- February 2025: The district court granted ADF’s motion for summary judgment, protecting Darren Patterson’s ability to participate in the program.
- May 2025: Colorado appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
- February 2026: The 10th Circuit paused the appeal while the Supreme Court considers a related case affecting the same Colorado program.
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