by Allie Martin
A California school district has rescinded a policy that would have charged religious institutions more to lease school facilities.
Under the existing proposal at the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, churches and other non-profit groups only have to pay the direct costs incurred by the school resulting from the church's use of the facilities. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says the rejected proposal would have treated churches differently by requiring them to pay a higher rate than other non-profit organizations.
“The law is very clear … that school districts cannot punish an organization like a church or religious organization with higher rent … simply because they are religious, when other non-profit organizations don't have to pay a higher rate,” Dacus says.
According to Dacus, many school districts do not realize that churches and other religious groups have to be treated equally — and the threat of legal action caused school board members to dump the new proposal.
“We addressed the matter after being contacted by a church [which] is going to be directly burdened with having to pay a substantial increase in the rent that they pay the school district for renting their school facilities,” he says.
The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
