{"id":33284,"date":"2026-11-02T12:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T17:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=33284"},"modified":"2026-11-02T12:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T17:23:04","slug":"colorado-mom-says-children-denied-12000-in-preschool-aid-because-of-catholic-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/11\/colorado-mom-says-children-denied-12000-in-preschool-aid-because-of-catholic-faith","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Mom Says Children Denied $12,000 in Preschool Aid Because of Catholic Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Becket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Colorado mother is speaking out after her family was unable to access approximately $12,000 in state-funded preschool benefits, claiming the state’s education program unfairly discriminates against Catholic families who want to send their children to religious schools.<\/p>\n

Erika Nagle, a mother of three whose children attend St. Mary Catholic School in Littleton, Colorado, says two of her children were excluded from the state’s universal preschool program because of the school’s religious policies.<\/p>\n

“We are being excluded from this benefit because we are Catholic,” Nagle told 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.”<\/p>\n

Her family’s experience comes as a legal challenge involving Colorado’s preschool program heads to the U.S. Supreme Court, raising questions about religious freedom, parental rights and access to taxpayer-funded education.<\/p>\n

Colorado launched its universal preschool program<\/a> in 2023, offering eligible families approximately $6,300 per child to cover 15 hours of preschool education each week.<\/p>\n

The program was designed to give parents more educational choices, including public, private and religious preschools. However, Catholic schools challenging the program argue that participation requirements conflict with their religious beliefs and admissions practices.<\/p>\n

According to Becket, a religious liberty law firm representing the Catholic plaintiffs, the state’s rules effectively force religious schools to choose between maintaining their faith-based standards and participating in the publicly funded program.<\/p>\n

Nagle says that choice has placed an unfair financial burden on families like hers.<\/p>\n

“Catholics are forced to pay the price for the school of our choice, which is Catholic school,” she said. “And so you have thousands of Coloradans that are being forced to pay more than anyone else.”<\/p>\n

She also believes the consequences extend beyond individual families.<\/p>\n

Nagle claimed that two preschools within the local Catholic archdiocese have closed and expressed concern that the state’s policies could discourage parents from choosing religious education.<\/p>\n

“The state is dangling a carrot over here, incentivizing people to leave their faith, to abandon the Catholic education that they want,” she said.<\/p>\n

At the center of the dispute are the admissions and participation policies of religious schools.<\/p>\n

Nagle argues that many schools establish enrollment priorities based on the communities they serve, including geographic location, financial need or specialized educational requirements.<\/p>\n

She says St. Mary similarly prioritizes Catholic families while welcoming others willing to respect the school’s religious teachings.<\/p>\n

“Colorado shouldn’t force Catholic families to give up their choice, which is a faith-based school,” Nagle said.<\/p>\n

The dispute highlights a broader constitutional question: Can a state require religious schools to comply with certain nondiscrimination rules as a condition of receiving public education funding, even when those rules conflict with their religious beliefs?<\/p>\n

Supporters of the Catholic schools argue that excluding them from an otherwise broadly available program violates religious freedom protections\u2014the state’s requirements, meanwhile, concern equal access and nondiscrimination in publicly funded education.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood declined to comment on the pending litigation.<\/p>\n

With the Supreme Court set to consider the dispute, the outcome could have implications beyond Colorado, potentially shaping how states balance religious liberty and nondiscrimination requirements in publicly funded school choice programs.<\/p>\n

For Nagle, the issue remains personal: She wants her children to receive a Catholic education without losing access to benefits available to other Colorado families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Colorado mother is speaking out after her family was unable to access approximately $12,000 in state-funded preschool benefits, claiming the state’s education program unfairly discriminates against Catholic families who want to send their children to religious schools. Erika Nagle, a mother of three whose children attend St. Mary Catholic School in Littleton, Colorado, says…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":33287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nColorado Mom Says Children Denied $12,000 in Preschool Aid Because of Catholic Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Colorado Catholic mother challenges preschool funding rules as the Supreme Court weighs religious freedom and school choice in a major case.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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