Colorado’s Religious Public School Case | A Timeline Of Events

April 2026

Riverstone Academy in Pueblo, Colorado, which identifies as the state’s first public Christian Charter school, is at the center of several legal disputes concerning public funding for religious institutions. The school is challenging Colorado’s ban on public funds for religious schools, citing Supreme Court cases that support the inclusion of religious organizations in public benefit programs. This legal battle has made Riverstone Academy a focal point in the broader national debate over the separation of church and state and could have significant implications for the future of public education funding.

Timeline of Events

• June 2025
  • Attorney Brad Miller communicated with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) about initiating a “parallel case” in Colorado following a Supreme Court deadlock on a similar Oklahoma religious charter school case Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest
  • The Pueblo 70 school board voted to allow Riverstone Academy to operate within its boundaries, though members later claimed they were unaware it would be a religious school. Christian law firm’s search for test case led to religious public school in Colorado, emails suggest

• August 2025
  • The Education reEnvisioned BOCES (ERBOCES) board unanimously approved Riverstone’s contract. This Education Co-Op Quietly Opened a Christian Public School. Does Colorado Need More Guardrails?
  • Riverstone Academy officially opened in an industrial zone in Pueblo County with approximately 30 elementary students. This ‘public Christian school’ opened quietly in Colorado. Now there could be a legal fight.

• October 2025
  • The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) issued a warning that it might withhold or “claw back” funding because the Colorado Constitution requires public schools to be nonsectarian. Concerns arise over Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’, Riverstone Academy
  • The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking a Colorado school district to immediately halt its unconstitutional funding of an explicitly Christian school that claims to be a public institution. FFRF demands Colorado district stop funding explicitly Christian ‘public’ school

• January 2026
  • Pueblo County officials sent a formal letter ordering the school to close its building at 1950 Aspen Circle, citing health, fire, and zoning violations. Building for Colorado’s “first public Christian school” ordered to close over safety concerns

• February 2026
  • The school officially closed its physical location. Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ closes building to address officials’ safety concerns
  • Riverstone and ERBOCES filed a federal lawsuit against 10 state education officials, alleging religious discrimination and challenging Colorado’s “Blaine Amendment“. The First Liberty Institute and the law firms Miller Farmer Carlson, First & Fourteenth PLLC, and Dechert LLP filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado on behalf of Education ReEnvisioned and Riverstone Academy, asking the court to declare that the state’s ban on funding for religious education violates the First Amendment. Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ sues state over ban on religious public schools
  • The school reportedly began operating out of a temporary, secret location, later identified by observers as Christ Church Pueblo West. In a win for controversial ‘public Christian school,’ Pueblo County officials greenlight original site / Where’s Riverstone? New site of ‘public Christian school’ unclear as old location draws scrutiny

• March 2026
  • ERBOCES agreed to pay a $20,000 settlement to a family following a special education complaint. Authorizer of Colorado’s ‘first public Christian school’ settles with family for $20,000
  • In a 2-1 vote, Pueblo County Commissioners approved a special-use permit, allowing the school to move back into its original building provided it completes necessary safety improvements. Pueblo’s public Christian school’ wins approval for special-use permit

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Additional Articles

• Colorado’s “first public Christian school” isn’t a mistake. It’s a test case.
• Douglas County School Board Votes to End Unconstitutional Voucher Program
• Federal Lawsuit Challenges Colorado’s Blaine Amendment Over Religious School Funding
• Federal judge lets Tennessee parents join lawsuit over proposed religious charter school
• How tensions over religion molded Colorado’s constitution
• LaRue v. Douglas County School District
• Oklahoma lawsuit spotlights religious charter schools again
• Religious Charter Schools Push New Cases Toward Supreme Court
• Taxpayers for Public Education V. Douglas County School District: The School Choice Movement Soldiers On
• The Douglas County voucher case is finally over

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