Earlier this year, Mid Vermont Christian School made headlines when they refused to participate in the state’s transvestite folly in women’s basketball. In standing firm in their faith by refusing to participate in a perverted male’s fetishistic delusions, the Vermont Principals’ Association banned the school from athletic tournaments. At the time, the school set an example of the willingness to sacrifice the little things, that being a high school women’s basketball game, rather than bend the knee to the spirit of the age, something most parents and schools acquiesce rather than fight. The decision of the VPA impacted athletic and academic competitions for the school’s students.
Since then, the Vermont State Board of Education has been seeking to exclude Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) from the state’s tuition reimbursement program because of its nonconformity to the agency’s requirement. The state board requires that the school’s website have “a statement of nondiscrimination that is consistent with the state’s public accommodation and fair employment laws, and submit a signed assurance by the head of the school that it complies with the public accommodation law.” In other words, the state is mandating that they play ball with the Rainbow agenda, as many states have opted to do through so-called civil rights legislation. By including sodomy under the guise of nondiscrimination, they can compel the school to allow boys in women’s spaces. The decisions of these agencies go beyond money, as they preclude participation in concurrent enrollment programs for MVCS students.
Rather than bend the knee, Mid Vermont Christian School is suing the state board of education with the assistance of the Alliance Defending Freedom. The lawsuit filed under the name “Mid Vermont Christian School v. Bouchey” seeks to capitalize off the recent Supreme Court precedent set in Carson v. Makin that Maine could not discriminate against tuition programs based on the religious beliefs of the institution.
In their statement, the Alliance Defending Freedom included the following:
Vermont continues to discriminate against families who choose to send their children to religious schools even after ADF attorneys favorably settled two lawsuits in December 2022 on behalf of several families and the Diocese of Burlington who sued state officials for discriminating against students and denying them the tuition benefit because they attended religious schools. As part of the settlement in those cases, E.W. v. French and A.H. v. French, Vermont officials agreed to apply the state’s tuition benefit program fairly.
The ADF has victoriously settled similar cases in Vermont, so they are poised to represent MVCS in federal court given their recent experience.
Mid Vermont Christian School was willing to sacrifice something as insignificant as a basketball game to remain faithful to God, something far too many Christian schools might tolerate for their student’s ability to participate in competitions. The willingness to suffer temporary losses for a greater victory is fundamental to the Christian walk. May MVCS be victorious in their lawsuit and receive a reward for their fight so that the other Christian schools in Vermont take up the next fight.
