Nearly three years ago, a Christian preschool in Chaffee County, Colorado walked away from the state's new universal pre-K program rather than drop its faith-based hiring rules. That standoff pointed to a bigger question about whether religious schools can access public funding without signing on to nondiscrimination terms. Now it looks like the U.S. Supreme Court is about to answer it.
Earlier this week, the justices agreed to hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a case brought by two Catholic preschools and the Archdiocese of Denver. Oral arguments are expected this fall, with a ruling likely by summer 2027. The outcome could reshape how states across the country balance religious liberty against anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ families.
What the Case Is About
Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, which launched in 2023, offers every four-year-old in the state 15 free hours of preschool per week. Families are free to choose any participating provider – public, private, or faith-based. Roughly 40 of the more than 2,000 participating preschools are religious.
To take part, providers sign an agreement promising not to discriminate against families based on a long list of characteristics that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. That means a four-year-old with a gay or trans parent, for example, could not be turned away on that basis.
That point didn’t sit well with some providers. The Archdiocese of Denver, which oversees 34 Catholic preschools, asked for a religious exemption so its schools could admit only families who agree to uphold Catholic teachings on sex and gender.
The state declined the exemption. In August 2023, two parishes – St. Mary's in Littleton and St. Bernadette's in Lakewood – sued. Joining them in the suit is the Archdiocese and a Catholic family.
A federal district court ruled in favor of Colorado in 2024. The 10th Circuit affirmed that ruling in September 2025. The Catholic plaintiffs then appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case earlier this week.
The Religious Liberty Argument
Lawyers for the preschools, led by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, argue that Colorado has carved out exemptions from its nondiscrimination rule for secular reasons – allowing some preschools to prioritize children of color, gender-nonconforming children, or low-income families, for example – while refusing a similar carveout for faith-based providers.
That uneven treatment, they say, makes the rule neither neutral nor generally applicable, which runs counter to Supreme Court precedent on the issue.
The schools also point to the real-world cost of being shut out of the program. Parish preschool enrollment in the Denver archdiocese has reportedly dropped about 20 percent since the program began, and two Catholic preschools have closed – including one that mostly served low-income and minority families.
"Colorado promised families a universal preschool program, then cut out families like ours because we chose a Catholic education," said Dan and Lisa Sheley, two parents named in the suit.
The State’s Position
Colorado counters that the nondiscrimination requirement cannot be ignored. Participating schools agree to admit all four-year-olds on equal terms because the program is publicly funded and exists to serve every child in Colorado.
Exemptions for things like income level or disability don't carve up a protected class, the state argues – they just direct resources toward underserved kids. State officials have declined to comment on the pending case.
A Familiar Fight, a Bigger Stage
This isn't the first time Colorado's preschool program has ended up in court. Back in 2023, we covered a similar lawsuit involving a private evangelical preschool that sued over the program's hiring requirements.
That case focused on staff rather than students, but the underlying question was the same: can a state condition public funding on rules that conflict with a school's religious beliefs?
The Supreme Court has leaned toward religious interests in a string of recent cases. Just last month, the justices struck down Colorado's ban on conversion therapy on free-speech grounds, siding with a Christian counselor.
But the term before, they ruled that a Christian teacher in another state had to follow district policy on using transgender students' pronouns, showing the line is not always drawn in one direction.
If the Court delivers a conclusive ruling, it will land well beyond Colorado. Universal pre-K programs are expanding across the country, and nearly every one of them includes some version of a nondiscrimination clause. A win for the Catholic preschools could open up public funding to a wider range of faith-based providers – and expand their legal right to turn some families away.
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