Faith

Supreme Court leans toward Catholic preschools in Colorado funding fight

Washington, D.C. • November 4, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: the U.S. Supreme Court building with small wooden preschool chairs and children's blocks in the foreground

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices sounded ready Tuesday to require Colorado to let Catholic preschools into its publicly funded universal preschool program, even though the schools will not sign a state nondiscrimination pledge that conflicts with Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality.

The case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, was argued Tuesday, November 3, and centers on Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, which offers families up to 15 hours a week of free preschool for 4-year-olds at participating public and private schools. To receive state funds, providers must agree to give children "an equal opportunity to enroll and receive preschool services" regardless of characteristics including sexual orientation and gender identity, as those apply to the child or the child's family.

The plaintiffs — St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton, St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, the Archdiocese of Denver and Catholic parents — say the requirement shuts them out of the program because the archdiocese requires admitted families and employees to affirm Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. They sued in August 2023, arguing the exclusion violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. The schools are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; the defendant is Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.

Lower courts sided with the state: a federal district court ruled against the parishes in June 2024, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously upheld that decision in September 2025. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in April 2026.

At Tuesday's argument, Nicholas Reaves, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the parishes, argued that Colorado's rule fails the test for a neutral, generally applicable law because the state grants secular exemptions from program requirements while refusing a religious one. Colorado Deputy Solicitor General Helen Norton defended the program, saying parents often choose preschools based on location and hours rather than curriculum. The Trump administration also argued on the Catholic schools' side, through Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris.

The justices divided along familiar lines. The court's three liberals — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — pressed the schools' lawyer hard. Jackson warned the plaintiffs were seeking a "special rule for religious schools," and Sotomayor asked whether rejecting children of same-sex couples on religious grounds could open the door to racial discrimination on religious grounds. The five conservatives asked friendly or neutral questions, the National Catholic Register reported. Justice Brett Kavanaugh described the case as a clash between the free exercise of religion and the right to same-sex marriage recognized in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, and asked why the state would not accommodate the roughly 30 Catholic schools at issue when parents have thousands of other preschool options.

The court's questions are not a ruling, and no decision has been issued. A decision is expected by summer 2027. The stakes are practical as well as legal: Colorado voters approved the universal preschool program in 2020, the state plans to spend about $360 million on it in the 2026–2027 school year, paying providers about $6,100 per child per year, and the plaintiffs say about 1,500 children across more than 30 Catholic preschools could take part if the schools win.

The case turns on two questions the court agreed to decide: what a challenger must show to prove a law is not generally applicable under the Free Exercise Clause, and how far the rule against excluding religious institutions from public benefits — set out in Carson v. Makin in 2022 — reaches beyond explicit bans on participation.

Sources: National Catholic Register, "US Supreme Court Leans Toward Catholic Schools in Clash Over Pre-K Funding" (Nov. 3, 2026); Christian Post, "Supreme Court hears Catholic preschools' case over LGBT rules" (Nov. 3, 2026); Baptist Press via The Christian Index, "Supreme Court hears Colorado religious discrimination case" (Nov. 4, 2026); Oyez, docket for St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, No. 25-581 (argued Nov. 3, 2026).