Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

A prominent conservative law firm looking for a test scenario on whether residents money can fund religious schools was the impetus for what s been billed as Colorado s first inhabitants Christian school according to an email obtained by Chalkbeat In the June email Pueblo County School District attorney Brad Miller wrote to the district s school board and superintendent seeking permission for a community development cooperative he also represents to open a school with about students within district boundaries Miller wrote that the cooperative would then work with Alliance Defending Freedom an Arizona-based group involved in high-profile conservative legal causes to test the legalities around the issue of whether a populace school may provide religious tuition On June the school board signed off on Riverstone Academy allowing it to operate within the southern Colorado district s boundaries for five years In August the school which describes itself as offering a Christian foundation and Christian curriculum opened quietly in an industrial zone in Pueblo County with about elementary students Miller explained in that June email that Alliance Defending Freedom had hosted him when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a development about whether a Catholic charter school could open in Oklahoma The episode resulted in a - tie and so the question did not get answered Miller wrote ADF requested me if I could find a way for a parallel affair to be initiated out of Colorado In the email Miller portrayed Pueblo s role as minimal We would anticipate that this will create a surge of society attention at a point in time he wrote But it would not be anything for which the district will have any participation Neither Miller nor Alliance Defending Freedom responded to requests for comment for this story Quin Friberg Riverstone s executive director also didn t respond Colorado has revealed it may withhold populace funding Friberg and Riverstone s authorizer Schooling reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Coaching services or ERBOCES have disclosed the school offers quality educational services that the society requested Ken Witt executive director of ERBOCES also argued that previous Supreme Court cases require Colorado to fund the school just like other residents schools That s despite a state constitutional provision that bars constituents funding for religious schools The June email suggests Miller knew and had informed Pueblo board members that Riverstone would be testing the existing limits of church-state separation It also suggests that the school s opening is part of a larger legal strategy to further expand inhabitants funding for religious development in the aftermath of the Oklahoma Catholic charter school affair Alliance Defending Freedom which describes its mission as grounded in the historic Christian tradition has been involved in more than a dozen effective Supreme Court cases That includes the Trinity Lutheran incident the first in a series of decisions that expanded community funding for religious private schools The law firm then applied that same reasoning to argue for constituents funding for religious charter schools After the Oklahoma Catholic charter situation ended in a tie that blocked the school from opening observers have expected another test affair to emerge A in recent weeks proposed Jewish charter school in Oklahoma would reignite the same legal arguments Riverstone Academy could also provide a test occurrence In October Colorado mentoring agents warned ERBOCES the school authorizer that the state may withhold general funding from the school If the state follows through and the school or ERBOCES sue it could set up the legal test circumstance that Miller s email referenced When inquired by Chalkbeat in October if Riverstone s opening was meant to spark a legal test episode Witt noted If a legal contest is required we ll cross that bridge when we come to it Witt reported by email on Monday he hadn t seen Miller s June email to Pueblo representatives but that he has profound respect for Alliance Defending Freedom s work Schooling reEnvisioned would welcome their assistance were there related litigation which there is not at this time he wrote Religion wasn t discussed when school was approved The bulk populace administrators involved in Riverstone s opening didn t respond to Chalkbeat s request for comment about Miller s email Miller hung up briskly Monday when Chalkbeat reached him by phone He did not respond to a follow-up email Miller represents several Colorado school districts that have taken conservative positions on various heritage war issues Lis Richard the president of the ERBOCES board didn t respond to Chalkbeat messages Neither did Pueblo Superintendent Ronda Rein or school board members A J Wilson John Christenson Cathleen Culhane Howland and Chris DeLuca Pueblo s school board was the only elected body that voted on Riverstone Although BOCES like Mentoring reEnvisioned are allowed to open population schools under state law they must get the consent of the school district where the school will be located if the district is not a member of the BOCES Pueblo is not a member of ERBOCES The five members of the ERBOCES board who are appointed not elected also voted to approve the school according to board meeting minutes At two June school board meetings where the Pueblo board considered letting Riverstone open within district boundaries neither board members nor Rein mentioned that the school would be religious or that it was intended to prompt a lawsuit Related Articles Denver schools foundation restarts pandemic-era food fund to help feed families during SNAP delays Outgoing Douglas County school board debates transgender athlete ban rejects -year charter extension Air Force Academy s accreditation under review after cuts to civilian faculty States are pushing for more scrutiny of antisemitism in schools Superintendent Alex Marrero says he s dedicated to DPS following analysis he s a finalist for Chicago job The school s religious affiliation wasn t widely known until Witt the ERBOCES leader publicly declared that Riverstone was Colorado s first inhabitants Christian school in October Shortly after that announcement Pueblo school board president Anne Ochs notified Chalkbeat she hadn t known it would be a religious school when she voted to approve it The next day she called back and disclosed she knew the school planned to use Christian curriculum but added to me that doesn t make it a religious school When Miller sent his June email to the Pueblo school board an email exchange obtained by Chalkbeat shows Ochs replied to Miller four minutes later Thank you for the information she wrote We will discuss putting this on the June th agenda Ochs started a job with Teaching reEnvisioned BOCES in July shortly after the board s Riverstone vote Contacted this week about Miller s email and her response Ochs stated My constituents voted me in and they craved me in I don t get paid for this position This is an elected position I make my votes depending on what I feel is right This story was originally published by Chalkbeat a nonprofit news site covering educational change in residents schools Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe at newsletters Get more Colorado news by signing up for The Denver Post s Mile High Roundup email newsletter