[A] Christian legal nonprofit is suing the state of Vermont, arguing a program that allows students to earn college credits while still in high school is discriminatory because it excludes students at parochial schools.
The Alliance Defending Freedom filed its suit on behalf of two families at Rice Memorial High School, a private South Burlington Catholic school, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in federal court on Tuesday.
“Vermont’s current dual enrollment program includes public, private, and home-schooled students. Only religious school students are completely excluded,” said ADF attorney Christen Price. “We believe that students who attend a religiously-affiliated high school deserve the same opportunities as their peers.”
ADF is one of the most powerful and well-funded conservative Christian legal groups in the country. Its attorneys have won a string of Supreme Court cases in recent years, including Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, where the court found in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
Since a 1999 state Supreme Court case, Vermont’s constitution has been interpreted to bar public funds from going to religious schools. But ADF argues the dual enrollment program should be treated differently that the state’s town tuitioning program, which allows students in choice towns to attend private schools – as long as they aren’t religious – using a publicly funded voucher.
“Under the Dual Enrollment Program, the State is paying for college courses (without regard to their secular or religious content), not tuition for a religious high school,” the complaint states.
Vermont’s dual enrollment program was established in 2013, and it allows high school juniors and seniors to take up to two college courses at 19 eligible institutions at the state’s expense. Students who are homeschooled or attending public high schools, technical centers, and non-sectarian private schools can all participate.
By forcing students to choose between attending a religious school and accessing taxpayer-funded dual enrollment courses, the state is violating both the free exercise and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, the suit argues.
Another key ADF win at the U.S. Supreme Court from 2017 could have implications in this suit. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, the court held that a Missouri state program violated the First Amendment when it denied a grant to a church-based school for playground resurfacing solely because of the school’s religious character.
The Trinity case was widely considered to have major implications for education funding and school voucher debates nationwide.
“The Trinity Lutheran decision illustrates the principle that this case is about. Which is the government can’t discriminate against students by excluding them from a generally available public benefit simply because they attend a religious school,” Price said.
Officials with the Agency of Education and Vermont State Colleges, which are named as defendants in the lawsuit, declined to comment. The Attorney General’s office, which will handle the case, said it hadn’t had a chance to look at the details of the case.
“We were just served with it today,” said Assistant Attorney General Kate Gallagher. “We’ll see what the arguments are and take a look at the law and go from there.”
The courts won’t be the only place this debate plays out. State lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow students at religious schools to participate in the dual enrollment program.
S.45 got its first hearing in the Senate Education committee on Tuesday, the very same day the lawsuit was filed. Its sponsors are the committee’s vice-chair and chair, Sens. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden, and Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden.
