Colorado mom says kids denied $12K in preschool aid over Catholic faith as case goes to Supreme Court

A Colorado mother of three says her family was denied $12,000 in taxpayer-funded preschool benefits because she chose a Catholic education for her children, accusing the state of discriminating against religious families through a program promoted as universal.Erika Nagle, whose children attend St.Mary Catholic School in Littleton, Colorado, told Fox News Digital that two of her children were denied access to the state’s preschool funding program, leaving her family to cover additional education expenses.“We are being excluded from this benefit because we are Catholic,” Nagle said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

“And so in a state that preaches inclusion, they are actively going out of their way to exclude a huge chunk of people because of our religious beliefs.”At the center of the dispute is Colorado’s universal preschool program, which Nagle says provides more than $6,000 per eligible child for preschool education.Catholic schools challenging the program argue that the state’s participation requirements unfairly burden their religious beliefs and admissions practices.According to Becket, Colorado launched its preschool funding program in 2023, offering eligible families approximately $6,300 to cover 15 hours of preschool per week.

The organization said the program was promoted as a universal benefit that would allow parents to choose among public, private and religious preschools, prompting Catholic families across the state to seek participation.Nagle says the consequences go beyond her family’s finances.“We have had two preschools in the archdiocese that have been closed down,” she said, arguing that the program is affecting Catholic school enrollment and pressuring families to abandon the religious education they want for their children.“The state is dangling a carrot over here, incentivizing people to leave their faith, to abandon the Catholic education that they want,” she said.Nagle argued that nearly every school has a...