Court bars religious curricula
A divided Ninth Circuit upheld California’s rule excluding religious curricula from parent‑designed charter independent study programs, reaffirming secular boundaries for curriculum in those settings. The decision clarifies limits on parent‑designed instructional content in independent study. (reason.com)
The case is Woolard v. Thurmond, No. 24‑4291, appealed from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (D.C. No. 2:23‑cv‑02305‑JAM‑JDP), argued June 4, 2025, filed September 11, 2025, and amended March 23, 2026. Plaintiffs were parents and guardians who brought a 42 U.S.C. §1983 action seeking to compel two charter schools to purchase and permit sectarian curricular materials for independent‑study students; the schools rejected those requests under California laws barring sectarian instruction in public schools. The panel emphasized that the challenged independent‑study programs must be free to attend, must be substantially equivalent to classroom instruction and aligned to state and local content standards, and are coordinated and evaluated by state‑certified teachers. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal and described public‑school curriculum choices as government speech, relying on the Supreme Court’s Carson v. Makin framework in its analysis. Defendants in the appeal included California Superintendent Tony Thurmond and two charter organizations identified in the opinion as Blue Ridge Academy and Visions in Education. The opinion drew separate dissents to the order denying rehearing en banc from Judges Brandon Bumatay and Ryan D. VanDyke, recorded on the amended opinion docket. The panel acknowledged plaintiffs’ argument that the programs operate like homeschooling and involve state‑allocated purchasing accounts for families, but held that even if purchases are a generally available public benefit the programs’ statutory obligations render them subject to secular‑curriculum rules.
