In Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. Knox County Board of Education, (ED TN, Nov. 6, 2026), a Tennessee federal district court held that the provision in Tennessee law that requires state-funded charter schools to be nonsectarian and nonreligious violates the 1st Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. The court said in part:
... Tennessee charter schools are operated by private actors that contract with State. While it is certainly commendable that Tennessee wants to “[e]ncourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods,” it cannot do so by opening the door to private participants just to discriminate against them on the basis of religion.....
Because the Nonsectarian Requirement works to “disqualify some private schools from funding solely because [of their] religious [use],” it must be subjected to “the strictest scrutiny.”...
... Although the State may ultimately approve a charter school application, it certainly does not establish a church or other religious institution.... It merely contracts with the private institution to operate a charter school. The ... argument that State-established religious institutions are unconstitutional, therefore, does not apply.
As to the antiestablishment interest in preventing the funding of religious education, it too fails. There does not exist any “historic and substantial” tradition to support Tennessee’s “decision to disqualify religious schools from government aid.”... And if the Supreme Court’s Free Exercise precedent tell us anything, it is this: Neutrally administering a state education program in which funds reach religious schools does not offend the Establishment Clause because it neither favors nor disfavors religion....
... [S]tates have a long history of supporting religious education through public funding.... Tennessee’s charter school funding mechanism is consistent with that tradition. Like the programs at issue in Espinoza [v. Montana Department of Revenue] and Carson [v. Makin], Tennessee distributes funding on a per-pupil basis, meaning that public funds follow students to the schools their families choose.... Families are free to select a charter school or pursue other educational options, and the State’s role is to provide funding to the school in which a student enrolls..... That the funds ultimately reach a religious institution—approved to operate a charter school—does not transform the State’s support for a generally available educational benefit into an establishment of religion....
Knox News reports on the decision.
