The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program, which bars Catholic schools from participating unless they abandon religious enrollment standards tied to the Church’s teaching on sexuality and gender identity. The case, St. Mary v. Roy, centers on whether a state may withhold public funding from religious institutions based on their adherence to doctrinal commitments.
Colorado’s program provides 15 hours of free weekly preschool to families statewide. Participation requires private providers to enroll children regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child or family members. The Archdiocese of Denver determined that accepting this condition would violate its guidance on human sexuality and Catholic anthropology, effectively excluding Catholic preschools—including one serving 4-year-olds in Littleton—from the state-funded initiative.
The Program’s Structure and Carve-Outs
Colorado’s preschool program does grant categorical exemptions to certain providers. Schools serving exclusively children with disabilities, low-income families only, or children identifying as LGBTQ are permitted to participate while maintaining enrollment restrictions aligned with their mission. The state also maintains a discretionary “catchall” mechanism allowing individual preschools to petition for additional accommodations on a case-by-case basis—a pathway the Archdiocese says remains closed to faith-based institutions with doctrinal positions on gender and sexuality.
Religious Liberty Arguments in the Case
The case has drawn substantial support from across the nation. More than two dozen amicus briefs have been filed backing the challenge to Colorado’s exclusion policy. Twenty states have filed their own briefs warning that the Supreme Court’s decision could threaten school choice and education programs nationwide, signaling concern that the principle applied in Colorado might extend to other state funding schemes.
The federal government has also weighed in. The United States filed an amicus brief arguing that Colorado’s exclusion of religious preschools violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the constitutional protection for religious practice and conscience.
Broader Context of Faith and Public Life
The case arrives as the Catholic Church reflects on the relationship between faith and secular life. In an apostolic letter marking the 60th anniversary of a key Vatican II document, Pope Leo XIV wrote that “when faith is true, it is not an added ‘subject’ but a breath that oxygenates every other subject.” That principle—that religious conviction shapes how believers approach all dimensions of life, including education—sits at the heart of the Archdiocese’s position.
Catholic teaching holds that parents have the primary right to educate their children according to conscience and faith. When a state conditions access to public funds on the abandonment of that religious formation, the Church teaches, it intrudes on a fundamental liberty. Similar religious liberty questions have surfaced in other contexts, from contraception mandate disputes to regulatory pressures on religious institutions.
What the Court Will Consider
The Supreme Court will assess whether Colorado may use funding as leverage to compel religious schools to set aside doctrinal commitments, or whether the Free Exercise Clause protects religious institutions’ ability to maintain their identity while accessing generally available public benefits. The outcome will likely influence how states structure education subsidies and whether categorical religious exemptions must be available alongside exemptions based on other criteria.
The case underscores a persistent tension in American law: the relationship between religious conscience, public funding, and equal access. Colorado’s position rests on nondiscrimination principles; the challengers argue those principles cannot override constitutional protections for religious practice and formation.