Vermont education agency says districts cannot withhold public tuition to religious schools

Vermont’s top education officials, citing a recent Supreme Court case, have informed school districts across the state that they cannot withhold public tuition to religious schools.

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In a 6-3 ideological ruling in June, the Supreme Court ruled in Carson v. Makin that the state of Maine was free to exercise First Amendment freedom of religion by waiving religious school tuition. I was found guilty of violating the terms. support program.

Justice Sotomayor, one of the Supreme Court’s liberal justices, accused it of “dismantling” the separation of church and state. Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts accused the state of discriminating against religion.

“There is nothing neutral about the main program,” Roberts writes. “The state pays tuition fees to certain students in private schools — unless the school is religious. That is discrimination against religion.”

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“In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin, I am writing to inform you that the school district will not accept religiously approved private schools or educational quality standards under the State of Vermont. You can’t refuse to pay tuition to a religiously independent school that meets the Constitution’s compulsory support clause, Chapter I, Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution,” Vermont Education Secretary Dan French said Tuesday. said in a letter to the principal of the school.

“A request for payment of tuition fees for a resident student to an approved independent religious school or religious independent school that meets standards of educational quality is a secular approved independent school or educational quality standard. It must be treated in the same way as a request for payment of tuition to a secular independent school that meets the standards of

Perhaps sensing that critics would cite this clause, the French preemptively wrote in a letter that public school districts could not withhold tuition to religious schools under Vermont’s “compulsory aid clause.” pointed out to Or it is “against the dictates of conscience”.

Peter Teachout, professor of constitutional law at the Vermont Law School, said the institution’s decision violated its regulations.

“I don’t know who is responsible for providing legal and constitutional advice[to the Department of Education]but advising local school districts to violate important provisions of the Vermont Constitution is at least that. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Carson case, and its failure to consider the available options for complying with both that ruling and the Vermont Constitution, is undeniable. It’s very problematic,” Teachout said in an email to outlet VTDigger.

The Vermont Department of Education explained in a statement to Fox News Digital that the AH v. French and EW v. French settlements paved the way for the announcement. The latter case involved two high school students and their parents, as well as the Roman Her Catholic Diocese of Burlington, for allegedly discriminating against students and denying them tuition benefits because they attended a religious high school. , filed a federal lawsuit against Vermont officials.

“The U.S. Supreme Court decision Carson vs Makin Over the summer, we led the parties in the Vermont cases, AH v. French and EW v. French, to a settlement,” Suzanne Sprague, spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Education, told Fox News Digital. Move forward with clarity knowing that you must pay tuition fees for all approved private schools regardless of religion. ”

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Educators in Vermont predicted that the court case would have a “significant” impact on education in the state.

“‘Important’ is an understatement,” said Jared Carter, a professor at the Vermont Law School.

Many towns in Vermont are not large enough to run their own public schools, so the state publicly funds families to send their children to other public and private schools. increase.

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