NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — A national organization that promotes separation of church and state plans to request an investigation into a state senator’s two statefunded preschools that have daily prayer and Bible lessons.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State believes Open Arms Learning Center and Noah’s Ark Preschool in Mountain Home are using state funds for religious activities, which is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution, said Ian Smith, a staff attorney for the nonpartisan organization.
The two preschools are owned by state Sen. JohnnyKey, R-Mountain Home, and his wife, Shannon Key.
The “purpose” of the schools is to provide child care and teaching in a “nondenominational Christian environment,” according to a handbook for parents that the organization and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained under state Freedom of Information Act requests.
A letter asking for an investigation is to be sent to the Arkansas departments of Education and Human Services, the two agencies that provided documents to the Americans United group.
“We certainly think that the confirmed prayer timeplus the comments in the papers about the Christian teaching at Noah’s Ark and Open Arms warrants a letter, so we will be writing one,” Smith said in an e-mail.
Often, a letter is enough to get a school to change what it has been doing, said Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United.
“Obviously there are times when we have to sue, but often a well-documented letter that cites relevant case law is enough,” Boston said in an e-mail.
Shannon Key, who is director of the schools, said the pupils pray before breakfast and lunch and have a Bible lesson each morning.
“It might be Daniel in the lion’s den or Noah’s ark,” she said.
Key said there are about six preschools in Mountain Home, and parents choose hers because of the religious instruction.
“They have chosen us because our children are getting that extra learning,” she said.
If the state agencies ask her to stop having prayers and Bible lessons, Key said she’ll comply.
“Nobody wants to make a ruckus,” she said.
Since the 2007-08 school year, Noah’s Ark has received $782,715 and Open Arms Learning Center has received $476,402 in grants through the Arkansas Better Chance program, which provides funding for low-income, prekindergarten pupils.
The program is administered by Human Services Department’s Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education. The funding comes from the Education Department.
This year, Noah’s Ark had slots for 40 pupils on Arkansas Better Chance grants while Open Arms Learning Center was funded for 20. Noah’s Ark can accommodate 213 children, while Open Arms Learning Center is licensed for 135, Key said.
This year, 298 preschools received $102 million in grants through the Arkansas Better Chance program.
Johnny Key is the second Arkansas legislator whose preschool has recently come to the attention of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The organization sent a letter Nov. 1 asking the same two state agencies to investigate Growing God’s Kingdom, a preschool in West Fork operated by state Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, and his wife, Marsha Harris.
Growing God’s Kingdom has received $2.6 million since 2005 in Arkansas Better Chance grants, said Amy Webb, a spokesman for the Human Services Department. The school has 168 pupils, and tuition for 110 of them is funded through Arkansas Better Chance grants.
Human Services Department Inspector Kim Chapman made an unannounced visit Nov. 4 to Growing God’s Kingdom.
In her preliminary report, Chapman noted bulletin boards with religious themes, “scriptural pictures” and decorations on the walls, andposters depicting a “Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag” and a “Pledge to the Bible.” A group of children was coming into the building singing “Jesus Loves Me,” Chapman wrote.
“Most of the classrooms have Bible study scheduled for around 12:30 for 10 minutes,” Chapman wrote in her report.
Harris said he hasn’t made any changes but he could move the Bible study until after the school day is officially over.
“The only thing we would change would be to teach it after hours,” he said. “It would have to be after 3 o’clock.”
But Harris objects to taking Bible verses off the wall of his preschool.
“The one thing we won’t do is take the Scriptures off the wall,” he said. We’re not going to change any of that. That’s where a lawsuit would come in. It’s a private building. It’s our building, our property. I definitely think it would be a free speech issue.”
The organization isn’t targeting legislators, Boston said.
“Actually, we see the Arkansas Department of Human Services and the state Department of Education as the targets here. Those are the agencies we hope to persuade to change policy,” he said in an e-mail.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-45-106 (a)(1)(B) requires a review of applications from schools that have a religious affiliation before they receive state funding for any childhood education program approved by the department. That’s to make sure there’s no violation of the First Amendment, which among other things prohibits the federal government from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, while also allowing an individual’s right to free speech and free exercise of religion.
Webb said the schools haven’t been inspected on those grounds in the past, and staff attorneys are reviewing the rules.
“We’ve always been clear that state funds cannot be spent on religious activities, but we now know that message wasn’t as detailed as it needed to be,” Webb said in an e-mail. “That’s what our attorneys will help us address. We work with many faith-based organizations, and we want to make sure that the guidance we provide them in the future is thorough and easy to follow.”
When asked why Human Services hadn’t noticed references to prayer and a “nondenominational Christian environment” in the file of the Mountain Home preschools, she said, “The file for these preschools have hundreds of documents in them. It was certainly an oversight on our part not to have noticed that phrase sooner.”
Shannon Key began babysitting four children in her home in 1991. In 1993, she opened Open Arms Learning Center and had 12 children enrolled, she said. In 1997, Key purchased a building and enrollment at Open Arms Learning Center grew to 110. In 2000, she bought Noah’s Ark Preschool, she said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/14/2011