In November of 2025, the case Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. Knox County Board of Education was filed. Wilberforce Academy, a Christian school in Knoxville, Tennessee, sued the County Board of Education for denying the school charter status. Tennessee law, specifically statutes governing public schools, prohibits private, religious, or church-affiliated schools from becoming public charter schools because they are public entities that must remain non-religious and open to all students. The school claims the Board of Education violated the Free Exercise Clause by denying charter status based on religious reasons. Wilberforce Academy openly claimed to provide an explicitly biblical and Christian education. Part of the school's argument is that the state should allow religious groups to run public charter schools because Tennessee allows religious schools to receive taxpayer-funded vouchers through the state's Education Freedom Scholarship program. The Education Freedom Scholarships allow students who are residents of Tennessee and entitled to attend a public school in grades K-12 to use state funds toward education expenses, while enrolled in grades K-12 at registered Category I, II, or III non-public schools located in Tennessee, prioritizing tuition and fees. The majority of private schools receiving voucher funds have religious affiliations. The school submitted a letter of intent to operate a kindergarten through 8th-grade charter school by the 2027-2028 school year, but the Board denied. Wilberforce Academy filed a lawsuit following the rejection. This case is ongoing and has not yet been tried.
Furthermore, on January 30th, United States District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. allowed a group of religious leaders, parents, and community members to support the Knox County School Board. The Tennessee taxpayers, known as the intervenors, are seeking to join the lawsuit on the side of the Knox County Board of Education and its members. They oppose the school’s proposed use of public funds to aid Wilberforce Academy as a religious public charter school. Dedicated to supporting public education and the separation of Church and State, they filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a religious public charter school being opened in Knoxville, Tennessee. The proposed parties refuse to allow their tax dollars to fund a religious public charter school that will indoctrinate students into one religion. They believe this would violate Tennessee and federal laws, and the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion or inordinately favoring one. The “wall of separation” between Church and State protects both religious freedom and government neutrality, ensuring equity for all religions across the United States. The intervenors simply want to ensure that public schools remain secular and available to all students and families seeking education.
Here is some perspective from two Tennessee taxpayers who side with the defendants. “Public Education is part of the common good. A religious charter school would be at odds with the need to ensure public schools remain appropriate for and welcoming to students of all faiths, families, and backgrounds. And it would divert already limited public funds and scarce resources away from other public schools in Knox County. We can't let this happen,” said Amanda Collins, a retired school psychologist and parent of Knox County. Reverend Dr. Richard Coble, a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville and the parent of two Knox County public school students, also says, “The reformed tradition in which I am formed has long supported the separation of Church and State, believing that our faith, and all faiths, are best supported when they are free of undue state interference. This is why I object to the use of tax dollars to support religious education of any kind, including my own religion. Religious education is the job of churches, denominations, and private religious schools.”
We have seen plenty of Free Exercise cases like West Side Community School v. Mergens (1990) and Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995). We have also seen Establishment Cases like Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) and Stone v. Graham (1980). Stone v. Graham established that the Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on a public school classroom wall was unconstitutional due to non-secular purposes. Epperson v. Arkansas established that the Arkansas Legislature's law prohibiting teachers in public or state-supported schools from teaching, or using textbooks that teach human evolution, is also unconstitutional. The law had been based solely on the beliefs of fundamentalist Christians, who felt that evolutionary theories directly contradicted the biblical account of creation. These two cases establish the need for separation between Church and State to protect the Establishment Clause under the First Amendment. The Knox County Board of Education is responsible for eliminating any government entanglement or advancement of a non-secular organization; therefore, they are defending the Establishment Clause, not violating the Free Exercise Clause.
In my opinion, the Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville should not receive charter school status as a religious-based school. The Academy wants to teach Christian ideals like a private, religious institution while receiving the benefits of a common charter school funded by public dollars. This would be unfair to both taxpayers, who could potentially be supporting ideals they don't align with, and secular schools that need tax dollars to operate. The issue is that Tennessee has already provided private, religious schools with financial aid, so there is too much room for uncertainty. But in cases like Epperson v. Arkansas and Stone v. Graham, the court denied government support for non-secular teaching. Therefore, I agree with the defendants in this case. Keep in mind that this case has not yet gone to trial, and the ultimate question is whether or not the school board's refusal to authorize a religious charter school violates the Free Exercise Clause. I say no because the Board of Education is not preventing Wilberforce from exercising religion, but is protecting the Establishment Clause.
Sources:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/449/39/
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/7
https://www.tn.gov/education/efs.html
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