Parents of two parochial school students in Centre County, Pennsylvania, have initiated legal action against the State College Area School District (SCASD). The lawsuit, filed with support from the Religious Rights Foundation of Pennsylvania and the Thomas More Society, alleges that the district's policy of excluding students from religious schools from extracurricular and co-curricular activities infringes upon their religious freedom and equal protection rights.
The complaint, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, contends that SCASD's actions violate both the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The parents are seeking a court order to ensure their children's participation in these activities. Thomas More Society special counsel Thomas Breth highlighted the discriminatory nature of the policy, noting that while homeschoolers and charter school students are permitted to engage in the district's programs and activities, parochial school students are denied the same opportunities solely due to their religious affiliation.
Breth pointed out the district's justification for the exclusion, which claims that the inclusion of parochial school students would somehow diminish the experience for students enrolled in district schools. He argued that this rationale is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's stance on similar cases, which has established that denying services based on religious affiliation requires a compelling state interest, something he believes is absent in this situation.
State College, Pennsylvania, is the home of Penn State University. (Google Maps)
The lawsuit centers around the alleged violation of constitutional rights by preventing parochial school students from participating in public school activities. (iStock)
