Chino Valley Unified School District handed loss in 2016
The district lost the case in 2016, and then lost multiple appeals before a newly elected board in 2019 voted to drop further appeals. The district was forced to pay approximately $350,000 to cover the opposing law firm’s legal fees.
A complete board majority
With a board now boasting four of its five members from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, which encouraged the appeals and reneged on its promise to pay any legal costs the district incurred, members feel empowered to try once again to use their positions to advance their religion in our public schools and in public meetings.
The board voted to hire evangelical law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom of Murietta to “initiate legal action to challenge the ruling.” The law firm has agreed to represent the district pro bono, except for court-related fees and any judgment against the district, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So what happens with the prayer lawsuit?
No further action was disclosed at the public meeting, but Chino Valley Defenders of Public Education will keep you updated on expected court filings.
Timeline of original case
November 13, 2014: lawsuit filed against Chino Valley Unified School District
The nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit in the Central District of California, Eastern Division, against the school board, whose meetings “resemble a church service more than a school board meeting,” according to FFRF. Board members James Na and Andrew Cruz, who remain on the board today, would regularly read Bible verses and Na even “urged everyone who does not know Jesus Christ to go and find Him,” according to the suit. Plaintiffs included students, parents and district employees.
February 18, 2016: courts ruled against CVUSD
U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal ruled against the district, finding that “permitting religious prayer in board meetings, and the policy and custom of reciting prayers, Bible readings, and proselytizing at board meetings, constitute unconstitutional government endorsements of religion in violation of plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.”
July 25, 2018: 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejects district's appeal
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the district’s appeal, upholding Judge Bernal’s decision. The three-judge panel ruled that “The board’s prayer policy and practice violate the Establishment Clause.”
December 26, 2018: the district's en banc petition was denied by the 9th Circuit
The district’s en banc petition was denied by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit, which declined to reconsider the decision.
January 17, 2019: newly elected school board voted 3-2 to end the appeals
The newly elected school board voted 3-2 to end the appeals, keeping the suit from potentially going to the next level – the U.S. Supreme Court.
February 20, 2025: newly elected school board voted 4-0 to reopen the case to challenge the court’s decision
On February 20, 2025 the Chino Valley Unified School Board voted in closed session to reopen a decade-old lawsuit that forced the board to stop its unconstitutional practice of praying, reading Bible verses and proselytizing during board meetings.
4-0 vote with James Na absent.