Montgomery County must pay $1.5M to religious parents after Supreme Court ruling

A federal judge ordered Maryland's largest school district to pay $1.5 million to parents who sued the school system after it took away parental notice and opt-outs for LGBT-themed storybooks, some of which promoted gender transitioning and pride parades to children as young as 4. 

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman issued the financial judgment, as well as a permanent injunction, in a Thursday ruling. The decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June that Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland cannot require children to be exposed to LGBT-themed books in the curriculum without parental consent.

Under the settlement and permanent injunction issued on Thursday, the Montgomery County Board of Education must notify parents in advance when instructional materials will feature LGBT content, and parents must have the right to opt their child out if it conflicts with the family’s religious beliefs.  

The board may notify parents in several ways about the instructional materials, including: “publishing via email to parents, prior to each marking period, descriptions of all core instructional texts and supplemental texts and materials (including videos) that have been approved for use during the marking period for each grade level.” 

“Public schools nationwide are on notice: running roughshod over parental rights and religious freedom isn’t just illegal — it’s costly,” Eric Baxter, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the parents, said in a statement. “This settlement enforces the Supreme Court’s ruling and ensures parents, not government bureaucrats, have the final say in how their children are raised.” 

“It took tremendous courage for these parents to stand up to the School Board and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court,” Baxter added. “Their victory reshaped the law and ensured that generations of religious parents will be able to guide their children’s upbringing according to their faith.”

The Montgomery County Board of Education did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

The case made its way to the Supreme Court after a religiously diverse group of parents challenged the school district's refusal to grant opt-outs for lessons featuring books that celebrate gender transitioning and same-sex relationships. 

In 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education introduced a series of LGBT-themed books for inclusion in schools' English language arts curricula. The books included titles such as Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope and Pride Puppy, a picture book about a pride parade that encourages children to search for images of underwear, leather and drag queens.

The school board initially allowed parents to exempt their children from reading these materials, but later revoked this option.

After an interfaith group of parents — including Christian and Muslim parents — protested outside the school district office in Rockville in 2023, the parents sued the board, arguing that the school district violated their sincerely held beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, rejected the motion for a preliminary injunction in August 2023, concluding that the parents failed to show that the "use of the storybooks crosses the line from permissible influence to potentially impermissible indoctrination."

In May 2024, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court ruling in a 2-1 decision, with Circuit Judge G. Steven Agee, a George W. Bush appointee, authoring the majority opinion.

In the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last year, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court:  “The practice of educating one's children in one's religious beliefs, like all religious acts and practices, receives a generous measure of protection from our Constitution.”

“And this is not merely a right to teach religion in the confines of one's own home. Rather, it extends to the choices that parents wish to make for their children outside the home,” he added.