Two Minnesota Christian colleges are challenging the state after a decades-old law was amended to exclude them from participating in the state’s dual enrollment program because it requires students to sign statements of faith.
Since 1985, Minnesota’s postsecondary enrollment program has allowed thousands of high school students, who wished to attend private and public colleges, to enroll in the program and simultaneously earn high school and college credits for free. In 2023, the state amended the program’s law to exempt schools from requiring students to sign a statement of faith on application, a decision that would remove state power from Crown College and Northwestern University, St. Now, colleges are fighting the measure, saying it discriminates on the basis of religion.
Fox News Digital spoke with Diana Thomson of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, who is representing the schools in the lawsuit against the state.
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A cross stands outside a church in Culhuacan in Mexico City, Mexico, on December 26, 2024, during the celebration of the patron saint San Juan Evangelista. (Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The Supreme Court has said over the last decade that, particularly in the context of education, the government should not be subsidizing private schools,” Thomson told Fox News Digital. “It runs public schools. It doesn’t have to provide private schools, but once it does, it can’t exclude religious schools because of their religious status, their religion. So, there are cases all over the country where governments try to go around this, which the Supreme Court said, and exclude schools of religious education programs This is the only one I know of that is a dual enrollment program.
Court documents allege that officials singled out the practices of the two colleges, even calling the statements of faith “horrifying” and “acknowledging that the intent of the amendment was to force Crown and Northwestern to drop their statements of faith.”
“One of the things you heard from lawmakers … in the adoption process. … was.. ‘These other schools don’t need a statement of faith. Why can’t Crown and Northwestern do what they’re doing? Why can’t they embrace their beliefs?'” Thomson told Fox News, explaining that the Constitution does not require schools to change their beliefs in order to receive public dollars.
“From the proposal to the agreement, the amendment is directed against the plaintiffs,” the lawsuit states. “Staff agreed that the proposal was motivated by opposition to any admissions standards requiring students to ‘practice diligently. [their] The Christian faith.’ (Ex. 21 at 1. ) MDE also sought to eliminate any messages that ‘might communicate to a student that they may not be eligible to take a PSEO course … because [the school’s] the biblical worldview.’ (Reynolds.Tr.1 132:8-133:19.)”
Thomson said the law is not about “separation of church and state, it’s about choice.”
“It’s about giving students the opportunity to choose where they want to go to school. Students have the choice to go to the University of Minnesota, to any public or private school in Minnesota that offers this program,” he said. “Some students want to choose schools that establish a society that will allow them to practice their beliefs. That is what this program allows. It does not establish a religion that the government can choose.”
If the deal is passed, the attorney says families who have sent all of their children to Crown and Northwestern will now not have the same opportunities for their younger children who wish to receive dual enrollment credits.
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“I think it is important for governments to understand that they will not exclude religious schools and religious organizations from participating in government programs just because of their religion,” said Thomson. The first amendment. For the government to intervene in that is a clear violation of the Constitution.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education and the Commissioner’s Office. They did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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