Williamsburg, VA - After a federal court ruled in favor of Child Evangelism Fellowship of Virginia (CEF), against the Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, the district was forced to end its discrimination against the organization's Good News Clubs. The court ruled that the school board engaged in unconstitutional discrimination by charging CEF a fee for holding after-school Good News Clubs at area schools, while granting free use to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other organizations. Liberty Counsel represents CEF.

The opinion pointed out a problem with the school board's policy that "empowers its superintendent to decide which organizations are allowed to have fee waivers without setting forth any concrete standards." The court also cited an appeals court ruling in a case Liberty Counsel won on behalf of another CEF group in South Carolina. In a settlement approved by the federal court this week, the district will rewrite its policy and pay more than $20,000 in damages.

After-school Good News Clubs teach children respect, good citizenship, moral values and character development from a biblical perspective. Liberty Counsel has obtained victories for CEF in numerous states from coast to coast and resorts to litigation when school districts do not reverse unequal treatment of Good News Clubs.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "Parents and children will benefit now that Good News Clubs will have equal access to the school district's facilities. Good News Clubs are good news for kids. Every public school ought to have a Good News Club. The kids love them, parents appreciate them, and the First Amendment protects them. Of all places, Good News Clubs should have been welcome in Williamsburg and James City, the birthplaces of American liberty. Now they are welcome. We told school officials their policy was unconstitutional. They didn't listen, so we filed suit and they learned the hard way that the First Amendment forbids religious discrimination."