Christian school that objected to transgender athlete sues Vermont after it’s banned from competing
A Vermont Christian school that withdrew its girls basketball team from a playoff game because a transgender student played on the opposing team is suing Vermont for banning the school from state tournaments and a state education program.
Mid Vermont Christian School of Quechee forfeited the Feb. 21 game, saying it believed the transgender player compromised “the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”
The executive council of the Vermont Principals’ Association, which governs school sports and activities, ruled in March that Mid Vermont Christian had violated the council’s policies on race, gender and disability awareness and was therefore ineligible to participate to future tournaments.
The school filed a federal lawsuit in Burlington on Tuesday, saying the Vermont Agency of Education’s refusal to designate the school as an approved independent school amounted to discrimination against religious schools.
A separate entity, the Vermont State Board of Education, requires independent schools to provide a statement of nondiscrimination on their websites that complies with the state’s public accommodations and fair labor laws, and a signed declaration by the head of the school. the school that it complies with the Accommodation Act.
If a school is not approved, it cannot participate in Vermont’s urban education program, which pays students in communities that do not have a public school to attend other public schools or approved private schools of their choice. Approval is also required for an independent school to allow students to take college courses through a state program.
“Mid Vermont Christian and its students are irreparably harmed” by being excluded from its programs and from middle and high school sports, the lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for the state education agency declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday. The head of the Vermont Principals’ Association said in an email that the organization had not seen the lawsuit and had no comment at this time.
In a separate case, the Agency of Education and several school districts agreed last year to pay tuition and legal fees to five families to settle two lawsuits challenging the state’s practice of not paying for students whose towns don’t have a public school to attend to attend religious schools.
The two sides agreed to dismiss the lawsuits after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Maine schools cannot exclude religious schools from a program that provides tuition assistance for private education.
In 2020, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Montana case that states cannot bar religious schools from programs that direct public money to private education.