The Ninth Court of Appeals has turned down an appeal from the Kountze Independent School District to reconsider a ruling allowing cheerleaders to make religious banners. The decision affirms the court's ruling last month in favor of the squad. Parents of seven Kountze ISD cheerleaders sued the district in 2012 after the district, in response to a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, banned the squad from putting Bible verses on signs at football games. The appeals court ruled in September that the banners were a form of protected private speech, not government- or school-sponsored speech, a ruling that will stand after the court turned down Kountze's appeal Tuesday.