{"id":33212,"date":"2026-10-27T15:40:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T19:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=33212"},"modified":"2026-10-27T15:40:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T19:40:38","slug":"illinois-school-district-to-pay-over-100k-after-restricting-christian-afterschool-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/10\/illinois-school-district-to-pay-over-100k-after-restricting-christian-afterschool-program","title":{"rendered":"Illinois School District to Pay Over $100K After Restricting Christian Afterschool Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An Illinois school district will pay over $100,000 after reversing restrictions against a Christian afterschool program. The Moline-Coal Valley School District had been accused by Good News Clubs, which are overseen by the Child Evangelism Fund (CEF), of enacting policies that had granted the club unequal access to school facilities compared to other similar clubs. Good News Clubs is an afterschool program that shares the Gospel and other Bible stories with students. A 2001 Supreme Court ruling found that such clubs could not be prohibited from school property after normal school hours.<\/p>\n

From 2017 to 2020, the district had permitted CEF to host the clubs on school property at no cost. However, after 2020 the district reclassified the program as a \u201cCategory II\u201d church-affiliated group and began to set restrictions on the clubs, requiring a rental fee for facility use and prohibiting the clubs from having flyers distributed at school to promote the club or to attend the district\u2019s \u201cBackpack Nights\u201d while similar organizations like the Boy Scouts remained Category I groups and were given free access to facilities. District Superintendent, Dr. Rachel Savage, would not accept legal materials outlining CEF\u2019s rights and refused to use her discretion to waive the fees despite board policies allowing her to do so. The district also did not provide a proper reason for the club being reclassified.<\/p>\n

CEF sought legal help from Liberty Counsel, which sued the district<\/a> in February alleging discrimination. CEF and the district then reached a settlement where the district agreed to pay $105,351.25 in attorney fees, costs, and damages. As part of the settlement, the district agreed to change its policies to permit Good News Clubs to have the same access to school facilities as the other afterschool nonreligious clubs. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver celebrated the settlement. \u201cThis is a reasonable judgment and great victory for Child Evangelism Fellowship, parents, and students in the Moline-Coal Valley School District,\u201d he said<\/a>, adding that the First Amendment \u201cprohibits public schools from discriminating against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities.\u201d He also commended CEF\u2019s program and focus on moral and character development, concluding, \u201cGood News Clubs should be in every public elementary school and that includes these Moline schools.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Illinois school district will pay over $100,000 after reversing restrictions against a Christian afterschool program. The Moline-Coal Valley School District had been accused by Good News Clubs, which are overseen by the Child Evangelism Fund (CEF), of enacting policies that had granted the club unequal access to school facilities compared to other similar clubs.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":33215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIllinois School District to Pay Over $100K After Restricting Christian Afterschool Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illinois school district agrees to pay $105,351 and restore equal access for Christian Good News Clubs after a religious discrimination suit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/10\/illinois-school-district-to-pay-over-100k-after-restricting-christian-afterschool-program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois School District to Pay Over $100K After Restricting Christian Afterschool Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illinois school district agrees to pay $105,351 and restore equal access for Christian Good News Clubs after a religious discrimination suit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/10\/illinois-school-district-to-pay-over-100k-after-restricting-christian-afterschool-program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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