A federal judge ordered Everett Public Schools to stop restricting an off-campus Bible education program, ruling the district's policies singled out the program because it is religious.

U.S. District Judge Lauren King issued the preliminary injunction April 24, siding largely with LifeWise Academy in its First Amendment lawsuit against the district.

The order takes effect as students begin the 2026–2027 school year Wednesday, Sept. 2. The case, filed in December 2025, alleged the district violated free speech and free exercise protections by imposing rules on LifeWise that no secular organization faced.

The court order requires the district to let LifeWise participate in community resource fairs, display flyers in schools wherever secular groups can and allow semester-long permission slips for students at Emerson Elementary School.

It also requires the district to let co-plaintiff Sarah Sweeny's children read LifeWise materials during times when other students may read non-scholastic materials.

LifeWise operates near Emerson Elementary, pulling students out once a week during lunch and recess for off-campus Bible classes.

The program opened in January 2025, the first such program in the Puget Sound area, the Everett Daily Herald reported. Fifty-five Emerson families were enrolled as of the First Liberty Institute's most recent case update.

The district had barred LifeWise from school events and flyer distribution, required students to seal LifeWise handouts in envelopes in their backpacks and demanded weekly permission-slip renewals. No other program faced those requirements, according to the lawsuit.

Judge King found that the timing of those policies, coming shortly after hostile board comments, "supports a finding that the new permission slip policy arose from school board animus toward LifeWise." The court concluded the policies were neither neutral nor generally applicable.

Board Director Charles Adkins made his position plain at a December 2025 meeting. "I want to make it extremely, abundantly clear that yes, I do in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy," Adkins said, according to the Herald's December 2025 reporting.

He called the organization "homophobic bullies" who are "active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy."

District spokesperson Harmony Weinberg said in a written statement in December 2025 that the district follows all federal and state laws and does not oppose or endorse off-campus religious programs.

Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, called the district's restrictions a direct First Amendment violation in an April 27 statement.

First Liberty and the firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP represent LifeWise in the case.

LifeWise operates in 14 Washington schools as of late August, with teams working to launch in 26 more districts, the Washington State Standard reported.

The district did not respond to the Standard's request for comment for that Aug. 31 article.

The preliminary injunction is a temporary order. The underlying lawsuit remains active, and no trial date has been announced.