Good News Club Takes CA School District to Court for Alleged Anti-Christian Discrimination

A Christian religious rights law firm is taking a California school district to court claiming it unlawfully prohibited a ministry from using the district’s public facilities to hold its after-school Good News Clubs.

As CBN News reported, Liberty Counsel alleges Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, and the school board are discriminating against Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) NorCal East Bay by denying its elementary school Good News Clubs from using its facilities on an equal basis with other similar non-religious organizations.

The group presented evidence at a preliminary injunction hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court to support their claim adding that the
district’s denials violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments and California state law.

“CEF applied to use facilities on four different campuses within the OUSD for more than two years but were denied on religious grounds, pretextual schemes, and even by silence,” Liberty Counsel explained in a statement, calling it “discriminatory denials.”

Before the COVID pandemic, OUSD had allowed CEF NorCal East Bay to host Good News Clubs on its campuses. In response to the pandemic, the school district canceled all clubs in the spring of 2020.

However, when CEF requested to resume the Good News Clubs throughout the spring and fall of 2023, elementary school officials responded with a variety of denials.

In several instances, school officials allegedly displayed religious viewpoint discrimination stating that CEF was not a “good match,” and “we are not in support of evangelism on our campus.”

The district also denied CEF NorCal East Bay because there was “no space” available even when spaces were reportedly listed as available online, and also failed to grant the organization’s “community partnership” application “due to its religious programming.”

Liberty Counsel sent its first demand letter to Dr. Johnson-Trammell in March 2023 notifying the district that denying Good News Clubs’ equal access based on CEF’s religious beliefs is viewpoint discrimination.

After the school district continued to deny the Good News Clubs equal access, the law firm sent a second demand letter in December 2023 reiterating unlawful viewpoint discrimination.

To date, other organizations such as Girls on the Run and Berkely Chess School are allowed to use school facilities for after-school programs, but school officials have not responded to Liberty Counsel or CEF’s application.

According to Liberty Counsel, OUSD has not contested the evidence presented in court documents, but officials did note that its response to CEF is in line with a “new policy” and “new practices.” However, state and school district regulations reportedly do not reflect any changes.

Liberty Counsel is asking a U.S. District court to issue a preliminary injunction pending trial, and a permanent injunction upon judgment to allow CEF to host its Good News Clubs at OUSD facilities.

The group cites a 2001 Supreme Court decision, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, that ruled that public schools violate the First Amendment by not providing equal access and equal treatment to Christian clubs when the school has opened the forum to secular clubs.

“The Oakland Unified School District must give the Good News Clubs equal access and treatment as the similarly situated non-religious groups on public school campuses,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver. “Child Evangelism Fellowship gives children a biblically based education that includes moral and character development. Good News Clubs should be in every public elementary school and that includes these Oakland schools.”

As CBN News has reported, founded 87 years ago, the CEF is an international non-profit worldwide children’s ministry. CEF Good News Clubs positively impact the lives of children and their families. The clubs typically meet once per week, immediately after school, and are led by trained and vetted local community volunteers. They provide religious and other teaching and activities to encourage learning, spiritual growth, and service to others, as well as social, emotional, character, and leadership development.

The ministry also reports school officials are seeing the positive difference the Christian clubs make. A survey of over 200 principals from 28 states reported that 87 percent of those principals where the clubs are located “noticed an improvement in student behavior.”

One principal said: “Since the Good News Club has been a part of our school, the office referrals have decreased.”

Good News Clubs are voluntary, do not charge any fee, and welcome children with written permission from parents. There are currently 3,041 Good News Clubs in public elementary schools across the United States.

Liberty Counsel has represented approximately 200 CEF cases nationally and has never lost a case involving Good News Clubs.

CBN News has reached out OUSD for comment. At the time of publication, they had not responded to the request.

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