This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
Religious schools in Minnesota are arguing in court that their students are facing unconstitutional discrimination from the state because of their faith.
The fight is over an offering by the state that allows students, while still in high school, to earn some college credits.
But Christian colleges are banned from participating, according to claims in the fight.
“Minnesota is waging a senseless campaign against students and the faith-based schools that wish to serve them. Private schools don’t become public schools just because they accept students who receive state funds, and to argue that they do is a transparent attempt to control Minnesotans’ religious beliefs and practices,” said Diana Thomson, counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the schools.
The schools, along with a number of Christian families, sued the state this year for excluding two Christian colleges from the state’s Post Secondary Enrollment Options program.
It offers free college credits to high school students in the program.
But leftists in the state government decided to exclude universities that have their students sign a statement of faith, to comply with the private schools’ own requirements.
The state had promised last summer not to enforce the ban while the fight plays out in court, but then the Department of Education there filed counterclaims against the schools, suggesting that since the schools’ students receive public funds through grants and loans, “they are state actors,” Becket explained.
That would make the statement of faith requirements for the private schools unconstitutional.
The PSEO program is 40 years old and is to allow students to attend any eligible public or private school of their choice.
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