Colorado’s new universal pre-K program is headed for a Supreme Court showdown in St. Mary v. Roy—and it puts a familiar education-law question on a sharper edge: when a state opens a publicly funded program to private (including faith-based) providers, can it require those providers to follow nondiscrimination rules that protect families’ sexual orientation and gender identity, or must the Free Exercise Clause require an exemption? In this episode, we preview the case through the 10th Circuit decision, walking through how Colorado designed its “mixed delivery” pre-K system, why the nondiscrimination requirement became the flashpoint, and how the court framed the tension between equal access in publicly funded education programs and religious liberty claims by private religious preschools. With oral arguments coming in early November, we also zoom out to place St. Mary v. Roy in the Court’s recent wave of religion-in-schools disputes—and what the outcome could mean for states trying to build universal early-childhood programs while maintaining inclusive enrollment protections. We also briefly discuss the recent multi-billion-dollar settlement in the ongoing social media responsibility saga.Check out our updated website (www.chalkandgavel.com) to sign up for our newsletter, support the show, find our episode database, and grab some merch. Interested in staying up to date on education law as an educator? Check out ELA's publication, Law and Policy in Schools, at www.educationlaw.org/lapis.Chalk & Gavel is supported by the Martha McCarthy Education Law & Policy Institute at Indiana University’s School of Education. The McCarthy Institute offers virtual and in-person programming to increase legal literacy. Educators, school leaders, attorneys, policymakers, professors, and others are invited to participate in interactive discussions related to contemporary issues in education law. To learn more, visit https://education.indiana.edu/events/conferences/mccarthy-institute/index.html#EducationLaw#StMaryvRoy #SCOTUS #UniversalPreK #FreeExerciseClause #Nondiscrimination #EducationPolicy #educationlaw #podcast #chalkandgavel