California law requires that public-school independent-study programs—like those offered by charter schools Visions in Education and Blue Ridge Academy—remain secular. A group of parents with children in Visions and Blue Ridge’s programs filed a lawsuit demanding that these public programs provide religious curricular materials and instruction. These plaintiffs argued that California’s refusal to provide such religious goods and services amounts to unconstitutional discrimination against religion. Their arguments were rejected by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, so they appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
On January 23, 2025, Americans United filed an amicus brief in support of California. Our brief argues that, as charter schools, Visions and Blue Ridge are governmental entities and state actors. As such, their independent-study programs must be secular to comply with the Establishment Clause. Further, because the plaintiffs have access to precisely the same public educational resources as anyone else, they have no valid claim under the Free Exercise Clause.
