A Christian fellowship has won a three-year-old lawsuit against a school district in Ohio state over the imposition of fees for the use of its facilities.
In a consent order, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Boyko found the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) violated the constitutional rights of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) for failing to treat it equally when it imposed fees on the use of its facilities.
The school district provided free use to non-religious community groups such as the Boy Scouts, the court noted.
The judge ordered the school district to pay $150,000 in damages and attorney's fees and to revise its policy on the community use of its facilities.
According to the order, the school district will accept the services provided by the fellowship to its students as payment for facility fees.
In 2013, Liberty Counsel sued the school district on behalf of the fellowship to seek equal access to the public school facilities for its Christian character education Good New Clubs.
The school district imposed fees which the fellowship could not pay resulting in the shutdown of the Good News Club.
Child Evangelism Fellowship has been encouraging learning, spiritual growth, and service to others for over 70 years and is currently active in every state in the U.S. and in 183 countries.
Good News Clubs worldwide provide religious and moral education to children in 43,186 clubs.
In an April 2013 fellowship survey, more than 87 percent of principals said the after-school Good News Clubs had a positive experience for their schools, and over 52 percent reported improved behaviour from students who participated in them.
"Equal access means equal access. Public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints. It is a shame that CMSD wasted three years in litigation to learn a basic civics and constitutional lesson. We are elated with this victory for CEF, for equal access, and for our Constitution," said Horatio Mihet of Liberty Counsel.
