Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Religious Colleges in Minn.

"Religious colleges that require students to sign a faith statement cannot be shut out of a Minnesota program that funds the dual enrollment of high school students in the state's public and private postsecondary institutions, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel's ruling overturns a Minnesota law prohibiting Christian colleges that participate in the state's 40-year-old Postsecondary Enrollment Options program from forcing students to pass a religious test."

"The families of several high school students seeking to earn credits at two Christian institutions in the state, Crown College and the University of Northwestern, then sued, arguing that the law violated their First Amendment right to religious freedom. The ban on faith statements was suspended while the legal battle played out. "This dispute requires the court to venture into the delicate constitutional interplay of religion and publicly-funded education," Judge Brasel said in her 70-page ruling. "In doing so, the court heeds the Supreme Court's instruction that the First Amendment gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.""

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel ruled that religious colleges requiring students to sign faith statements cannot be excluded from Minnesota's Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) dual-enrollment program, overturning a 2023 state law that barred Christian colleges from imposing religious tests. The state Education Department and LGBTQ+ advocates had supported the law as a response to faith statements that discriminate against non-Christian, non-straight, or non-cisgender students. Families seeking credits at Crown College and the University of Northwestern sued, asserting First Amendment violations. The ban on faith statements was suspended during litigation. The ruling noted the colleges received nearly $40 million in PSEO funds since 2017-18 and that PSEO benefits about 60,000 high schoolers.

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