A Washington state school district has agreed to pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees and revise its policies after a legal dispute over restrictions imposed on elementary students participating in an off-campus Bible instruction program. The settlement with LifeWise Academy also requires a public apology and religious liberty training for school board members.

The lawsuit centered on rules adopted by the Everett School District that LifeWise said unfairly targeted its program. LifeWise provides privately funded Bible instruction to public school students during the school day, with parental permission.

Under the district’s rules, students returning from LifeWise classes were required to keep Bibles and worksheets in sealed envelopes so other students would not be “exposed to them,” according to LifeWise CEO Joel Penton. Parents were also required to deliver new permission slips every week rather than authorize participation for a semester or school year. The organization was additionally barred from participating in some community fairs that were open to other groups.

Penton said parents worried the restrictions made their children feel they had to conceal their religious beliefs. He also argued that the weekly permission requirement made participation unnecessarily difficult for families.

LifeWise had operated in Everett for several years before the district introduced the restrictions. After efforts to resolve the dispute failed, the organization filed a lawsuit. In April, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, finding that the district had engaged in viewpoint discrimination.

The school board has now approved a settlement ending the case. Under its terms, the district must provide religious liberty training for board members, change policies governing religious activities, and publish a written apology on its website for six months. It must also pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees.

The apology acknowledges that comments made during board meetings “were offensive and hurtful to the families participating in LifeWise programming.” One board member had publicly stated, “I do in fact hold animus” toward the organization, referring to its supporters as “homophobic bullies” seeking “an authoritarian theocracy.”

In a statement on its website, the district said it had updated its student-release guidelines to comply with the settlement and respected the preliminary injunction. The apology also recognizes families’ right to raise their children according to their beliefs and expresses regret toward anyone who felt their religious convictions were unworthy of respect.

Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty, which represented the religious liberty interests in the dispute, said religious discrimination has no place in public schools and described the outcome as a victory for release-time programs. Penton likewise welcomed the settlement, saying Everett families should receive the same access and respect afforded to participants in other optional programs.

Off-campus religious instruction during the school day has been permitted under a 1952 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, provided the instruction is privately funded and participation requires parental consent. The Everett settlement highlights the legal limits public school districts face when regulating such programs and the importance of applying policies consistently rather than discriminating against religious viewpoints.