Christian school in Vermont moves to expand religious discrimination lawsuit

The Mid Vermont Christian School aimed to expand its preexisting religious discrimination lawsuit against Vermont officials last week to include the state’s tuition program. Attorneys for the school alleged that the law created a religious gerrymander by excluding religious, independent schools from the program. The new claims come alongside the school’s ongoing religious discrimination lawsuit against state officials.

The school initially sued in 2023 after the state expelled Mid Vermont’s high school girls’ basketball team for forfeiting a game against a team with a male on the roster. The school cited religious conviction in its court filing, along with concerns over safety and fairness during the game.

As a result, the Vermont Principals’ Association kicked Mid Vermont out of the sports association, which the school’s attorneys argue violated players’ First Amendment right to religious practice. An appeals court recently sided with the school and ordered the league to reinstate the team while litigation continued.

How does tuition relate to the sports case? Attorneys representing the school filed a motion last week to expand its lawsuit and add additional discrimination claims over the tuition law, Act 73, enacted over the summer. The additional complaint is sufficiently connected to the original complaint to be part of the same lawsuit, and would facilitate a speedy, merit-based case resolution, the filing argued.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed Act 73 into law in July, which allowed independent schools that meet certain criteria to receive public tuition funding. The law excluded all approved religious independent schools in Vermont from tuition funding and other public benefits. Mid Vermont attorneys argued that the new law harmed the plaintiffs by barring them from using public tuition dollars.

The amended filing also challenges a law that did not exist when the original claims were filed, so denying the amended claims would be like declaring a winner before a competition begins, the filing added. It remains unclear how the judge will rule on the proposed change to the lawsuit’s claims.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report for more about the school’s recent appeal win.