Commission bars use of religious texts in new Nampa Classical Academy

BOISE — The Idaho Public Charter School Commission told the Nampa Classical Academy Friday it can't use the Bible as an instructional text.

The board acted on the advice of its legal counsel, Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Swartz. Swartz wrote a memo to the commission Thursday with the opinion that religious texts cannot be used to teach in Idaho public schools.

The new Nampa charter school, set to open Sept. 8, will follow the commission's directive, Nampa Classical Academy board chairman Kyle Borger said. It is a public school funded with state tax dollars.

The decision was made at the commission's meeting in Boise.

"We always said we would follow directions of the commission," Borger said. "And we will continue to do so."

The commission said if the charter uses the Bible, it would issue the school a notice of defect, which would require the school to change its action.

The legal review memo released by the commission states that the Idaho Constitution "expressly" limits use of religious texts in public schools. Officials with the charter school had planned to use the Bible and other religious texts as a primary source for instruction but not, they said, to teach religion.

Asked if the school would use a Christian advocacy group that wrote its own legal review of the issue to challenge the commission's decision, Borger said he didn't know.

"We've got to see what it means," he said about the opinion. But he added that the school would comply with the decision.

The Alliance Defense Fund had written an opinion and sent it to the commission this week arguing that the school could use the Bible. The memo said the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that it is appropriate for public schools to use the Bible for its literary or historical value.

The five-page memo on the issue from the deputy attorney general concluded that "based on federal and state case law, as well as the strict language of the Idaho Constitution, it is likely that any effort to use the Bible as a text in an Idaho public school would be found unconstitutional under the Idaho Constitution."

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman had argued in a memo sent to the commission Wednesday that the academy had a right to include the Bible as an educational resource and such use is allowed by the Idaho and U.S. constitutions.

"The commission has been relying on a misinterpretation of a provision in the Idaho Constitution," Cortman said. "That provision does not forbid the Bible from being included as part of a public school's curriculum. On the contrary, the framers of the state constitution sought assurances that the right of public schools to use the Bible as a teaching tool would be protected."

The commission released the Swartz memo Friday after spending about 20 minutes in an executive session. There was no discussion at the meeting.

"I appreciate the counsel of the Attorney General's Office on this issue," Charter School Commission member Gayann DeMordaunt of Eagle said.

Nampa Classical Academy is slated to open next month with more than 550 students.