On November 4, Moody Bible Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Chicago public school system’s exclusion of its student teachers because of the Institute’s religiously-based hiring policies.
It is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). In a press release, ADF says, “Chicago desperately needs more teachers to fill hundreds of vacancies, but public school administrators are putting personal agendas ahead of the needs of families.”
ADF notes that the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools refuse to employ student teachers from Moody’s elementary education program, because of Chicago’s non-discrimination policy for schools that send student teachers.
Under the policy, higher education institutions involved in its student-teaching program cannot “discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of . . . religion, . . . gender identity/expression, [or] sexual orientation.”
But following that policy would require Moody to abandon “its religiously based hiring practices,” notes the Moody Bible Institute
ADF says Chicago’s policy amounts to religious discrimination. “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.”
Federal law does not prevent religious employers like Moody Bible Institute from hiring employees based on religion. There is an explicit statutory exception to the ban on religious discrimination for religious employers, and the Supreme Court upheld that exemption in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop v. Amos (1987).
So the Chicago schools have no legal duty to exclude bible colleges from sending student teachers, just because those bible colleges hire employees based partly on religion.
Chicago’s exclusion of student teachers from Moody Bible College makes it almost impossible for students at the Institute to get their degree. Student teachers are “required to spend a minimum amount of time in classroom observation, practicum, and student teaching hours” before they can get their degree.
