The national program, known as LifeWise Academy, is growing especially fast in Washington, where people have expressed interest in establishing a program in about 83% of the state’s school districts

Emma Maple
Washington State Standard

This article was first published by FāVS News.

A controversial off-campus Christian education program for public school students, which has sparked conversation about the intersection of church and state, is gaining traction across the Pacific Northwest.

The national program, known as LifeWise Academy, is growing especially fast in Washington, where people have expressed interest in establishing a program in about 83% of the state’s school districts, said LifeWise state Director Alise Morrisey.

LifeWise has also garnered statewide attention after it filed a lawsuit against the Everett Public Schools district in December 2025. The lawsuit said the school district violated the First Amendment by singling out LifeWise with policies that violated its free speech and freedom of religion.

In April, the state’s U.S. District Court in the western district issued a preliminary injunction requiring that the Everett School District allow LifeWise to participate in community resource fairs, display printed flyers in schools wherever flyers from secular organizations are allowed and teach students who have parental permission.

Why LifeWise is controversial

The Bible-based program, which officials said is open to all regardless of religious affiliation, is controversial for several reasons. It takes children out of class during the school day for religious education, it is said to incentivize children to recruit others in their classes and it elicits worry about the proper separation between church and state.

Proponents, however, argue that the Supreme Court has made it possible for programs like LifeWise to exist through a 1952 ruling, and claim that LifeWise improves children’s lives.

“There are stories coming in across the nation about how much of a blessing it has been,” Morrissey said.

Lifewise is currently offered in 14 Washington schools, with teams actively working to establish the program in 26 other school districts, according to Morrissey. In total, people have shown interest in establishing the program at 245 of the estimated 295 school districts, Morrissey added.

“I think that there’s some good movement happening in Washington,” she said.

The Secular Education Association, an organization founded in direct opposition to LifeWise that says its goal is “protecting the separation of church and state,” listed 9 schools in Washington where LifeWise is offered. It also listed one school in Oregon and one in Idaho.

The Secular Education Association did not agree to an interview.

Program in practice

By the end of the 2025-2026 school year in Idaho’s Grangeville/Mountain View School District, 26 students were marching three minutes from the Grangeville Elementary/Middle School and to Grangeville Christian Church, ready for religious education.

These children were part of the first iteration of Grangeville’s LifeWise program, which was started by a group of residents at the beginning of the year, according to local Program Director Fred Stevens.

When the program first opened, five students were registered, Stevens said. Over a few months, that number more than quadrupled, largely through student word of mouth, Stevens said.

In Ohio, where the Legislature passed a law last year mandating schools create policies allowing students to be released for religious instruction, some parents have complained about students recruiting each other. According to reporting from NBC News, parents have raised concerns that LifeWise promises incentives like ice cream or popcorn parties if students can meet a recruitment quota.

In Grangeville, students enrolled in the LifeWise program are taught for a few hours each week. The program offers a standardized curriculum, but Stevens said local chapters are free to adjust as needed.

According to LifeWise, the curriculum goes through the entire Bible over the course of three years. The curriculum is not available until requested, at which point it is accessible for about 48 hours, according to news reports.

The Guardian reported that LifeWise’s curriculum attempts to avoid political topics and doesn’t touch on topics like gender and sexuality but, if students ask questions, instructors are recommended to say that divorce, LGBTQ+ identities and cohabitation without marriage are sinful.

Staying in school becomes a point of contention

LifeWise has also received criticism for removing children from the school during school hours, rather than operating as an after-school program. At the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor, Washington, where LifeWise is serving about 20 students across three elementary schools, Superintendent Michael Farmer said the district prefers that children remain in school during school hours.

“We recognize people’s constitutionally protected right to practice freedom of religion, but we also think kids should be in school all day, every day,” Farmer said. “Even during unstructured time.”

With a limit to the amount of hours children spend in school per day, Farmer said the district prefers that parents don’t regularly remove them from the school for anything — be it dentist appointments or Bible-based programs.

“We just want to maximize every opportunity we have with kids,” Farmer said.

In Grangeville, district superintendent Amanda Bush said the school tries to coordinate with LifeWise so that the program runs while students are in their elective courses like art or music.

“This is one that they can select and go through, other than other choices,” Bush said.

Unlike other school districts, like in Everett, Washington, Bush said she has never received any negative feedback about the LifeWise program. Demographically, the small rural area is predominantly Christian.

“In a rural school that has limited options for electives and things like that, I think this is a great option,” Bush said.

The case for LifeWise

On its website, LifeWise claims that in public schools where the program is offered, the school’s absence rate drops by nearly 50%, suspension rates are nearly 30% lower and over 30% more students perform at or above grade level.

“It’s a pretty remarkable thing we’ve got going on here,” Washington Director Morrissey said.

LifeWise improves education by teaching children life lessons and moral development, Morrissey said.

“Parents know their children better than anyone, and they understand what’s best for them,” Morrisey said. “Many want Bible education.”

In August 2025, LifeWise estimated that it would serve nearly 100,000 students across 1,100 schools in 34 states. The program has grown exponentially since it launched its first pilot program in 2019.

In fiscal year 2025, LifeWise programs made $39 million in revenue across all the schools.

Debates about church and state continue

Opponents of LifeWise argue that the program violates the First Amendment’s protection of freedom from religion by overentangling public schools with a Christian religious program. Critics also point to LifeWise’s active political front, which, over the past few years, has helped pass legislation in five states, requiring that districts allow students to attend LifeWise or other religious programs during school hours.

Although there are concerns, it doesn’t appear that anyone has sued LifeWise on First Amendment grounds. LifeWise, however, has sued in some cases — including in Everett, Washington, where it argued that the school discriminated against it for being a religious program.

The Everett School District did not respond to requests for comment.

LifeWise leaders like Morrissey argue that the program does not violate the First Amendment, and point to past Supreme Court rulings to uphold their point.

In 1952, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Zorach v. Clauson that school districts are permitted to allow students to leave school grounds for a few hours in order to receive religious instruction. The instruction must meet three criteria, however: It must take place off school property, be privately funded and requires parental permission to participate.

Although Lifewise has garnered some headlines and headaches since it was established, Morrissey said, in Washington, she thinks that there has been less criticism than there has been praise.

“Most families and communities have welcomed LifeWise with open arms,” she said.

Stevens, the local leader for the chapter in Grangeville, Idaho, said he thought LifeWise was addressing a real need that is being revealed in the public school system.

“I think there’s a real hunger growing among the population,” Stevens said. “I do think there’s a lot of problems that LifeWise addresses and questions that LifeWise answers.”

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