Christian school and AG Daniel Cameron file suit over Beshear’s order closing Ky. schools
Danville Christian Academy and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron have filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Andy Beshear, arguing that his order closing Kentucky’s schools, including private religious schools, violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and the state’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act.
To stem the growing tide of COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, Beshear ordered Wednesday that all schools providing Kindergarten through 12th grade instruction must stop holding in-person classes beginning Monday. Under the emergency order, most schools will not be allowed to reopen until the new semester begins in January. In counties with fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people, elementary schools will be able to reopen Dec. 7.
A motion for a temporary restraining order filed along with the federal lawsuit says “Danville Christian has a sincerely held religious belief that it is called by God to have in-person instruction for its students, and it believes that ‘its students should be educated with a Christian worldview in a communal in-person environment.’”
Cameron announced the lawsuit Friday afternoon, saying he had joined the Boyle County private school in filing the suit.
“Danville Christian Academy, the co-plaintiff in the lawsuit filed today, has implemented rigorous protocols to safely provide in-person instruction, spending between $20,000 and $30,000 to operationalize a safety plan,” the news release from Cameron’s office states. “The Boyle County Health Department even noted that the school is ‘doing it right.’ Yet, the Governor’s latest order will stop the school from continuing in-person instruction.”
Beshear’s office issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, saying Cameron ”should stop playing politics and instead help Kentuckians understand what it takes to defeat this virus.”
“The Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the governor has the constitutional authority to issue orders to help save lives,” Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley said in the statement. “This week, Kentucky has a 9% COVID-19 positivity rate, 112 red zone counties and nearly 10,000 students and staff in quarantine. Of those, nearly 1,700 tested positive for the virus.
“This week, we also lost our first student to the virus – a 15-year-old girl from Ballard County – and a teacher. The governor has followed the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House Coronavirus Task Force and public health experts; and many other Governors across the country are taking similar actions to protect the health and lives of children and families.”
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in Frankfort, said that “regardless of how well-intentioned the governor might be, his actions violate the federal and state constitutions and Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. His actions also infringe on the autonomy of religious institutions and violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.“
“The governor’s school-closure order prohibits religious organizations from educating children consistent with and according to their faith,” Cameron said in the news release Friday. “The ability to provide and receive a private religious education is a core part of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Religiously affiliated schools that follow recommended social-distancing guidelines should be allowed to remain open. In August, we issued guidance stating that a closure of religious schools during the pandemic would risk violating the U.S. Constitution and state law. The governor dismissed the guidance, and he has now forced us to bring a lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of Kentuckians.”
Roger Byron, Senior Counsel at the First Liberty Institute, a Texas non-profit legal organization representing the school, said Friday night in a statement that “Governor Beshear has violated the law and put Kentucky’s children at risk. “
“Just yesterday the director of the CDC explained that schools are one of the safest places for K-12 students during the pandemic. His executive order unlawfully restricts private religious schools in violation of the First Amendment,” Byron said.
In August, Danville Christian Academy reopened to in-person learning despite a request at the time from Beshear that schools delay face-to-face instruction for about six weeks.
Kentucky House Speaker Pro Tempore David Meade, R-Stanford, said in the release that classrooms are “the safest place for our children during this pandemic.” He did not cite a source for the statement.
“Our schools have done a tremendous job planning and implementing safety procedures in our school systems and a phenomenal job of keeping our children safe,” Meade said. “As we continue to make decisions that will affect hundreds of thousands of Kentucky children and their families, we need to check our emotions at the door and make decisions based on credible facts.”
Cameron questioned why retail and office environments, as well as other venues, were considered “safe,” while schools were not.
“The governor’s orders are arbitrary and inconsistent when it comes to school closures in Kentucky,” Cameron said in the release. “We urge the Governor to follow the legal opinions issued earlier this year by multiple federal judges and allow religious schools to continue in-person instruction while following recommended health guidelines.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 6:59 PM.
