Judge issues partial injunction against Everett district in LifeWise case

Published 2:58 pm Tuesday, April 28, 2026

EVERETT — A judge issued a preliminary injunction against Everett Public Schools in federal court on Friday, a ruling largely in favor of an off-campus Bible program that sued the school district late last year.

LifeWise Academy, a Bible education nonprofit that pulls students out of public school during lunch and recess periods, sued the school district in December 2025, alleging that district policies had violated the nonprofit’s rights to free speech and free expression of religion.

The nonprofit alleged that the district had denied a LifeWise request to take part in a community fair, denied a request to display flyers on school property, implemented a burdensome permission slip policy and had required students to keep LifeWise instructional materials sealed in backpacks.

The same day the suit was filed, LifeWise also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, a temporary ruling before a trial takes place, intended to prevent lasting harm to the party filing the motion.

On Friday, United States District Judge Lauren King partially granted the injunction in favor of LifeWise, ordering the district to allow LifeWise to participate in community resource fairs, display flyers in schools, change its permission slip policy and allow children to read LifeWise reading materials during times of the school day when students read other non-scholastic materials, the ruling read.

Friday’s ruling is not final. That could come at the end of a trial, scheduled for early next year, or if the two parties reach a settlement.

In a Monday press release, Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at the First Liberty Institute — the conservative nonprofit legal firm that filed the lawsuit against the district — wrote that targeting an out-of-school because it is religious is a violation of the First Amendment.

“We are grateful that the court has put a halt to the open and intentional acts of discrimination toward LifeWise by the Everett School District,” Dys wrote.

In a statement, Everett Public Schools spokesperson Harmony Weinberg wrote that the district is still in the process of reviewing the court order with legal counsel and evaluating its next steps.

“This case is still in active litigation and is not the final order from the court,” Weinberg wrote Tuesday. “The district will continue to follow the legal process and the orders from the court. Everett Public Schools remains committed to serving all students.”

In the ruling, King wrote that LifeWise was likely to succeed in court on most of its claims that the district’s actions violated free speech laws.

Regarding the district’s resource fair, King wrote that the district’s decision to exclude it from the fair was not reasonable, as the resources allowed at the fair were broad and could have included a religious organization.

“The District has allowed entities to present their resources to students and families if they are secular, but precluded LifeWise from presenting a resource—that purportedly promotes character development and higher academic achievement—through a religious perspective,” King wrote. “In doing so, the District has engaged in viewpoint discrimination.”

The judge listed a similar reasoning for her finding that the district had likely violated LifeWise’s free speech rights in regards to the display of flyers, stating that because the district opened up a forum to a diverse array of speakers that provide services to families, the district can’t deny access to LifeWise in that circumstance.

In regard to the concealing of LifeWise materials, King ordered the district to allow students to read LifeWise Bibles in class and said the district’s policy to require sealing the materials was “overly broad” because it applied to “all LifeWise materials, including Bibles, in their backpacks, not just the candy and flyers that were allegedly disruptive,” King wrote. The injunction only requires the district to allow students access to reading materials, not all LifeWise materials, during class.

LifeWise also accused the district of requiring an overly burdensome permission slip policy for its students, parents and volunteers. The district argued it was standard practice to require a permission slip for every time a student was released to somebody other than a parent or guardian during school hours.

In her ruling, King stated that the district never provided the standard process for permission slips during the school day, so the court could not conclude if it was neutral or generally applicable. The district must now allow for parents and guardians to give permission for a full semester, as long as the permission slips includes the specific dates and times of release as well as the people to whom the student may be released to.

The injunction related to the permission slips was narrower than what LifeWise Academy originally requested — the nonprofit had originally asked the court to require the district to “[r]efrain from enforcing any requirements on LifeWise that do not apply to every other organization to whom the school releases custody of students,” the ruling read — but King wrote that the ask was too vague, and reduced the scope of the injunction.

LifeWise Academy began operating near Emerson Elementary in January 2025. It has been controversial since, with some parents concerned over possible disruptions in classrooms and the nonprofit’s ties to conservative organizations. LifeWise representatives have said it is not tied to any political group and that it offers the program during the school day to be more accessible to children who want to attend.

The nonprofit gets most of its funding from contributions and grants, IRS documents show, but has received financial support from The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that created Project 2025. The think tank referred to LifeWise as a conservative organization.

A trial in the case is scheduled to begin in April 2027.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.