by Colleen Enos
“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” This recognizable quote by the character Joe Fox from the famous rom-com You’ve Got Mail reminds us that it is back-to-school season. Your family may have already begun the 2026-27 school year, or you could be holding out for another week or so. If you are brave homeschoolers, your family’s school year will begin after Labor Day.
Numerous families homeschool so that they can infuse their teaching with a Christian worldview. We rightly want our children to understand the world through the lens of our Creator. Our rights as parents to direct our children’s upbringing and education give us the fundamental freedom to make this choice. The United States Supreme Court affirmed this right in Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925. Parental rights are the foundation for homeschool laws.
Colorado is notorious for trampling on parental and religious rights. Just last week, Alliance Defending Freedom sent notice to the Roaring Fork School Board regarding their graphic sexual education curriculum that is currently being taught to children as young as five years old. The 3Rs curriculum was created by Advocates for Youth, which lists as one of their values:
“Responsibility: Society has the responsibility to examine and dismantle systems of oppression that drive sexual health disparities and other inequities and to instead champion community initiatives, programs, policies, and systems that ensure equity and justice for all young people, their families and communities.”
This organization’s focus is on equity and social justice, as they state in their values.
Children in the second grade are taught that there are more than two genders, explicitly opposing God-given truth and biology. In third grade, children create a family pride flag, and the lessons continue to increase in graphic content and vulgarity. Parents are required by law to be given an opt-out for their children, but several parents cited in the ADF letter reported difficulty finding the opt-out form, teachers ignoring their opt-out requests, or lack of any notification at all.
Colorado is mentioned again in regard to religious liberty violations. The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice has updated its religious liberty guidance to reflect Supreme Court rulings on religious expression, parental rights, and autonomy of faith-based organizations. Colorado’s Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which gave Christian baker Jack Phillips a win for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, was cited as an example of the government applying the law with “official expressions of hostility” towards religion in the guidance. Combined with the 303 Creative LLC case, which found that a website designer had a First Amendment right not to create messages they disagreed with, and the overturning of Colorado’s “conversion therapy” for minors ban in Chiles v. Salazar on First Amendment grounds, Colorado has proven itself hostile to religious liberty for Christians.
Religious liberty is foundational in our country. The ability to worship God according to our conscience, without interference or discrimination by the state, upholds our parental and educational rights. As you begin or continue your family’s 2026-27 school year, remember that you are discipling and training your children in a Christian worldview and godly knowledge. That freedom is worth celebrating all year long.
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