Tessa Bulzan, a Christian homeschool mom in Oregon, recently filed a lawsuit after public school officials denied her reimbursement for religious curriculum.
Homeschoolers in Oregon are eligible for reimbursements for educational expenses. Similar programs operate in other states around the country — including Arkansas, where homeschoolers may receive funding via Educational Freedom Accounts.
But in Oregon, public school officials have apparently provided reimbursements for secular curricula while refusing to reimburse for religious curricula. Attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) write:
“Tessa Bulzan homeschools her children because she believes that God calls her to do so, instilling her faith in her children through her chosen homeschooling materials and curricula.
“Hillsboro School District offers a Homeschooling Partnership that reimburses parents for educational materials the parents choose and offers in-person learning opportunities to supplement home instruction. The program’s representative told Bulzan that she could use any curriculum, including a religious one, so she chose a combination of Abeka and Classical Conversations for her homeschooled instruction and enrolled her children in classes through the Firmly Planted Hillsboro co-op. All three provide God-centered academic instruction.
“After enrollment, the school district had very little interaction with Bulzan, providing virtually no oversight for her instruction. When the homeschooled mother went to submit her expenses for reimbursement at the end of the first semester, however, district employees denied reimbursing any of the Abeka or Classical Conversation costs and any of the Firmly Planted Hillsboro co-op fees ‘due to the Christian and biblical worldview that is taught’ and the ‘Christian beliefs and themes [that] are integrated throughout core subject areas.'”
ADF says Bulzan appealed the denial, but the school district still refused. Finally, she filed a lawsuit against the district with help from ADF.
To put it plainly, public officials cannot exclude religious people or religious groups from government programs.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to withhold public benefits to a person or group because they are religious.
The lawsuit against Oregon’s Hillsboro School District makes this point very clearly.
Arkansas has enacted good laws over the years like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that stop the government from discriminating against people because of their religious convictions. Laws like it should help prevent cases like the one in Oregon from happening here.
We appreciate our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom standing up for religious liberty and defending homeschoolers in court.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
