After a Christian college recently accused Chicago Public Schools of religious discrimination against its student teachers, a House Republican leader is doubling down on the district.
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg sent a letter Friday to the Chicago Public Schools’ superintendent for “excluding Moody [Bible Institute] and its students from participating in CPS’s student teaching program unless Moody agrees to change its faith-based hiring policies and practices.”
The Michigan congressman added, “If true, this is unlawful.”
Mr. Walberg’s letter raised concerns about Chicago Public Schools compelling the institute “to abandon its Biblically based doctrinal positions” on human sexuality to participate in the student-teaching program.
This recent development follows reports that the school district could be violating federal law by discriminating against Moody’s students.
The institute filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education in November for excluding it from a student-teaching program due to its faith-based employment practices.
Student-teaching hours are required in the elementary education degree program, but the lawsuit alleges that the institute’s students have been denied access to the Chicago Public Schools’ student-teaching program unless Moody agrees to employment changes.
In January 2024, the Illinois State Board of Education approved the institute’s elementary education degree program.
But the school district refused to allow Moody’s participation in the student-teaching program due to its policy that participating institutions cannot discriminate against any individual because of religion, gender identity/expression or sexual orientation, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal firm representing Moody.
When the college sought to amend the policy to recognize its rights as a religious institution, the legal firm alleges that Chicago Public Schools “continued to refuse to accommodate Moody’s religious rights.”
Moody, with over 2,200 students on its Chicago campus and beyond, says its employees must believe that “God created humanity in His image as male and female” and that “the Bible teaches that any type of sexual activity outside the God-ordained marriage of male and female is sinful.”
“Chicago desperately needs more teachers to fill hundreds of vacancies, but public school administrators are putting personal agendas ahead of the needs of families,” the legal firm’s senior counsel, Jeremiah Galus, said. “Moody holds its faculty and students to high standards of excellence and is more than qualified to participate in Chicago’s student-teaching program. By excluding Moody for its religious beliefs, Chicago Public Schools is illegally injecting itself into a religious non-profit’s hiring practices, which the Constitution and state laws expressly forbid.”
Mr. Walberg said his committee is seeking more information to determine whether legislative changes to address religious discrimination are needed.
