Good News Club Sues Virginia School Board Over Fees

In a release yesterday, Liberty Counsel announced that it had filed suit against the Williamsburg -James City County (Virginia) Public Schools challenging its policy of charging facility usage fees to the Good News Club. The club is a Christian after-school program operated by Child Evangelism Fellowship of Virginia. School board policy allows the superintendent to waive usage fees "in consideration of services rendered by public institutions or nonprofit organizations in direct support of public school students or staff." Fees are waived for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. In defending against charges of discrimination, the school board pointed to the equal access provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (Sec. 9525) that specifically requires schools receiving federal funds to provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other youth groups listed in Title 36 of US Code as patriotic societies. (See prior related posting.)