Idaho charter school abandons plans to study Bible

BOISE — A public charter school suing Idaho officials for barring the Bible and other religious texts from the classroom agreed Wednesday to comply with the ban — unless the courts rule otherwise.

Nampa Classical Academy has, until now, balked at orders from the Idaho Public Charter School Commission to abandon plans to use the Bible and other texts for their literary and historic qualities.

The charter school will comply with the state order until the matter is settled in court, said Eric Makrush, a member of Nampa Classical Academy board of directors.

"The thing we can't afford to happen is for the charter school commission to revoke our charter. That's the bottom line," Makrush told The Associated Press.

The academy opened this fall and is the third-largest charter school in the state with more than 500 students.

School founders wanted to use the Bible and other texts as part of a secular education program, citing a nearly 50-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The plan prompted Idaho's public charter school commission to review the use of religious texts in the classroom. And in August, it decided the academy could not use the Bible because it violated the state constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court banned ceremonial school Bible readings in 1963 but said the Bible is "worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities" so long as material is "presented objectively as part of a secular program of education."

In a Nov. 23 meeting, the commission sent the academy a notice of intent — the first step in a lengthy process that could result in closure — after reviewing an academy reading list for high school students that included the Bible.

The academy was given a Wednesday deadline to submit a plan to correct the problem. In a letter to the agency, school administrators said they would adhere to the order but wanted more clarity on the commission's definition of religious documents.

The academy has previously pointed out that the practice goes unchecked elsewhere in Idaho. A charter school in Coeur d'Alene has used the Bible in literature classes since 1999.

"While the academy believes it is legally permissible to include such documents and text as resources, it nonetheless wishes to avoid revocation of our charter," the academy wrote to the commission.

Tamara Baysinger, charter schools program manager for the commission, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.