Legal Guidance & Resources for Christian Schools

Your admissions process is the first opportunity to welcome new students into a nurturing, faith-based community. Of course, not every school focuses on the same mission field. Some schools seek to cultivate a covenantal relationship with like-minded, Christian families. Other schools desire to educate children and come alongside families from a variety of backgrounds. Regardless of your unique model of education, creating admissions processes and policies that effectively communicate your identity and align with your Christian mission can help grow your school while safeguarding its biblical convictions and values.

How CMA Can Help:

We assist in reviewing your admissions policies and documents, helping to ensure they reinforce your school’s religious mission, protect your legal rights to freely exercise your faith, and clearly communicate your school’s beliefs.

Your parent and student handbook is the primary vessel through which you can clearly communicate your school’s faith-based mission and expectations. By way of example, it should include your mission statement, statement of faith, code of Christian conduct, physical privacy policy, and disciplinary procedures. A code of Christian conduct ensures that all relevant members of the school community, such as staff and students, understand and commit to upholding the school’s biblical standards. Requiring signed agreements reinforces these commitments and mitigates legal risk.

How CMA Can Help:

We offer guidance on crafting handbooks that clearly express your school’s faith-based mission and policies within the bounds of the law.

Hiring staff who align with your school’s Christian beliefs is critical to living out your mission. Yet, non-discrimination laws can threaten Christian schools' ability to employ individuals who share and live out those beliefs. Loose employment policies that are not carefully structured may leave schools unnecessarily exposed to higher levels of legal risk.

How CMA Can Help:

CMA attorneys can provide guidance on structuring employment documents, handbooks, policies, procedures, and job descriptions that reflect your religious values while safeguarding your school’s right to make faith-based hiring decisions.

Case Study: Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

Michigan's reinterpretation of non-discrimination laws threatens to force Sacred Heart Academy to hire faculty and staff who lead lives in direct opposition to the Catholic faith, speak messages that violate Church doctrine, and refrain from articulating Catholic beliefs in teaching its students. We’re defending the school’s right to operate in accordance with its religious beliefs.

Gender ideology and abortion activists are using health insurance mandates to force Christian schools and other ministries to cover contraceptives, abortions, so-called “gender transition” surgeries, and other procedures that violate their religious beliefs.

How CMA Can Help:

We encourage schools to vet their medical plans to confirm any coverage that may violate their sincerely held beliefs. If violations exist, we can support schools in seeking appropriate legal relief.

Case Study: Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland

A Washington state law forces churches and ministries to cover elective abortions in their health insurance plans. As a result of the state’s mandate, Cedar Park Church’s insurance carrier inserted abortion coverage, including surgical abortion coverage, directly into the church’s health plan, even though this goes directly against the church’s beliefs. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, Cedar Park is standing up in the courtroom for its belief in the sanctity of life.

To maintain fidelity with Scripture and ensure the most robust protection for your school’s religious liberty, students should be taught from a biblical worldview and receive direct religious instruction. Schools should ensure this instruction is integrated into every part of the curriculum and that teachers are required to incorporate biblical teaching into their lessons as a condition of employment.

How CMA Can Help:

We provide legal guidance on structuring your employment documents to formalize religious instruction as part of your teachers’ responsibilities. We also help review your policies to ensure your school’s commitment to biblical teaching is clearly documented and reinforced.

Gender ideology is impacting school athletics, with laws, conference policies, or associational rules that could require schools to allow male athletes identifying as female to compete on girls' teams, and vice versa. Christian schools now face the difficult decision of whether to compete against girls’ or boys’ teams involving athletes of the opposite biological sex.

How CMA Can Help:

We offer legal support to help you develop and uphold athletic policies that reflect your school’s sincerely held religious beliefs, ensuring that your programs align with your faith and values.

Case Study: Mid Vermont Christian School

Vermont officials are denying Mid Vermont Christian School and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs. Vermont, through its Agency of Education and Vermont Principals’ Association, requires private, religious schools like Mid Vermont Christian to adopt the state’s view on human sexuality and gender—namely, that sex is mutable and biological differences do not matter—as a condition to participate in the state’s tuition program and athletic association. Doing so violates the First Amendment rights of Mid Vermont Christian, its students and families, and other faith-based schools by preventing them from practicing their religious beliefs about sexuality and gender.

While government funding can be helpful in theory for schools, it often comes with conditions that conflict with religious beliefs, particularly around admissions, employment, and other operational practices. Accepting these funds without proper legal review can put your school at risk.

How CMA Can Help:

CMA attorneys provide guidance on navigating government funding. We can evaluate terms and conditions of grant programs, helping you identify potential legal risks with the goal of ensuring your school remains free to operate according to its Christian beliefs.

Case Study: Darren Patterson Christian Academy

Darren Patterson Christian Academy in Buena Vista applied for and obtained approval to participate in Colorado’s new universal preschool program, which guarantees every four-year-old in the state at least 15 hours per week of state-funded preschool services. The Colorado Department of Early Childhood, however, mandated that, for the school to participate in the program and receive critical state funding, it must hire employees who do not share its faith and alter internal rules and policies that are based on the school’s religious beliefs about sexuality and gender—including those that relate to restroom usage, pronouns, dress codes, and student housing during expeditions and field trips.

Christian schools should have the same right to access public benefits as any other institution, but too often, they are excluded or pressured to compromise their religious beliefs to participate in government programs. Whether it's scholarships, tuition assistance, or other opportunities, these benefits are essential for many families and schools. Christian schools must be prepared to navigate the legal challenges that arise when their faith is at odds with government conditions.

How CMA Can Help:

The ADF Church & Ministry Alliance helps Christian schools navigate the complex legal landscape surrounding public benefits. We offer legal guidance to help your school participate in publicly available scholarship and government programs while upholding your religious beliefs. Whether securing exemptions, addressing unfair exclusions, or challenging unjust conditions, our experienced attorneys are here to help protect your school’s right to operate according to its faith and access the resources it needs to thrive.

Case Study: Bethel ministries

Maryland officials revoked a church-run school’s eligibility to participate in a voucher program to benefit low-income students and demanded the school pay back thousands of dollars for previous participation in the program. Although the school fully complied with the program’s requirements, state officials disqualified Bethel from participating in the program after reading Bethel’s Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality.