In Child Evangelism Fellowship of South Carolina v. Anderson School District 5, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46298 (D. SC, July 7, 2006), a federal district court in South Carolina upheld a school district's policy on charging fees for use of school facilities by groups running after-school programs. Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) applied to use school facilities for the Good News Club, a Bible and religious education program for elementary school children. The school informed CEF that it would be required to pay a rental fee. CEF argued that this discriminated against it on the basis of its religious viewpoint and the content of its message. Even though other groups offering after-school programs , such as the scouts and the YMCA, came within the school's fee waiver policy, the court held that the District had valid reasons for treating CEF differently, and that administrators had not applied school policy in a discriminatory manner.
Free use was permitted for school-related organizations, organizations offering joint programs with the school, and, in the original version of the policy, others where the school found a fee waiver to be in the school's best interest. After suit was filed against it, the District eliminated the waiver provisions, but grandfathered in free usage for groups that had been using school facilities in the past. The court found these to be valid classifications, and rejected CEF's free speech, free exercise, equal protection and establishment clause arguments.
In deciding the case, the court also dealt with standing, mootness and 11th Amendment arguments.
