A father in Colorado pays out of pocket for Catholic preschool while his taxes fund other children’s preschool educations.
asserted
taxes → pay → educations
One of his children has spina bifida, and the family stays in Colorado because Medicaid covers her needs better than anywhere else.
asserted
Medicaid → have → needs
An extra $6,000 would go a long way toward helping care for her.
asserted
6,000 → go → her
A mother who works at a lumber company, married to a house painter whose work slows every winter, has six children and a seventh on the way.
asserted
work → work → way
She once assumed Catholic school was only "for rich people."
asserted
school → assume → people
Another mother started a florist business to help pay tuition.
asserted
mother → start → tuition
Three of her children attend a Catholic school in Denver, but she could not afford preschool there for her youngest, who now attends a Lutheran preschool in the state program.
uncertain
who → attend → program
"I’m choosing just a faith," she says, "and here I’m being punished for that."
asserted
I → choose → that
A fourth parent took a lower-paying job at her children’s parish school for a tuition discount, and she has watched families leave because of the cost of pre-K.
asserted
families → take → K.
I filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of these Catholic families in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, which the court will hear on Nov. 3.
asserted
court → file → Nov.
Dan and Lisa Sheley, parents who joined the Archdiocese of Denver and two parishes in challenging the state in court, tell a similar story.
asserted
who → join → story
The Sheleys have seven children, five already at St. Mary’s, and have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket on a faith-based preschool education the state will not help fund.
asserted
state → have → education
Colorado’s "universal" preschool program was supposed to help families like them.
asserted
program → suppose → them
It doesn’t, and the reason is a single clause.
asserted
reason → do → ?
To participate, a school must promise "equal opportunity," a provision that covers sexual orientation and gender identity, and Catholic schools cannot agree to it without abandoning church teaching on the nature of marriage, human sexuality and identity.
asserted
schools → participate → marriage
Colorado never has to say "Catholic."
asserted
Colorado → have → ?
It only has to write a rule that Catholic schools cannot meet.
asserted
schools → have → that
America has seen that move before, under the Blaine amendments, and they are back.
asserted
they → see → amendments
In 1875, at a time of great anti-Catholic bigotry, Speaker of the House James G. Blaine proposed a constitutional amendment barring public money from "sectarian" schools.
asserted
Blaine → propose → schools
The public schools of the day were Protestant, with daily instruction, prayers and hymns built around the King James Bible.
asserted
schools → build → Bible
Catholic families that sought instruction for their children in their faith tradition built schools of their own.
asserted
that → seek → own
Blaine’s amendment passed the House overwhelmingly and fell just short in the Senate.
asserted
amendment → pass → Senate
The states took up the cause, and roughly three dozen wrote versions into their constitutions.
asserted
dozen → take → constitutions
None said "Catholic."
asserted
None → say → Catholic
None needed to.
asserted
None → need → ?
As Justice Clarence Thomas observed in Mitchell v. Helms (2000), it was an open secret that "sectarian" was code for "Catholic."
asserted
sectarian → observe → Catholic
Colorado has built the modern version.
asserted
Colorado → build → version
Its program gives eligible 4-year-olds a benefit worth around $6,000 a year at the school their parents choose.
asserted
parents → give → school
The price of participation is the "equal opportunity" clause, which Catholic schools cannot pay.
asserted
schools → pay → which
The Supreme Court has spent recent years undoing the Blaine legacy.
asserted
Court → spend → legacy
In Trinity Lutheran (2017), Espinoza (2020) and Carson (2022), it held that once a state offers a public benefit, it cannot disqualify schools for being religious or for practicing their faith.
asserted
it → hold → faith
Colorado’s mandate does the same work in modern vocabulary.
asserted
mandate → do → vocabulary
Many preschools are willing to accept the state’s terms.
asserted
preschools → accept → terms
But those whose faith includes a view of marriage, sex and the human person the state rejects cannot.
asserted
state → include → marriage
I filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of these Catholic families in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, which the court will hear on Nov. 3.
asserted
court → file → Nov.
And Colorado’s rules bend for everyone else.
asserted
rules → bend → everyone
Providers may serve only children with disabilities, only low-income children, only children of color, only gender-nonconforming children or only the LGBTQ+ community, and officials can grant further exceptions case by case.
uncertain
officials → serve → case
The lawmakers who built the program expected faith-based preschools to be part of it.
asserted
preschools → build → it
Roughly 1,500 children across 30 schools have been shut out.
asserted
children → shut → schools
Enrollment in Catholic preschools has dropped by about 20%.
asserted
Enrollment → drop → %
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
