In
A.M. v. French, (D VT, Dec. 29, 2019), a Vermont federal district court refused to dismiss plaintiffs' claim that Vermont's administration of its Dual Enrollment Program for high school students violates their right to free exercise of religion. Vermont pays tuition for high school students to take a limited number of courses at colleges. While public school, home schooled and private non-sectarian school students may participate in the program, students at religious high schools are not eligible. The court held in part:
Because Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the DEP Provision is not neutral and generally applicable, the burden shifts to Defendant to prove that the State's enforcement of the DEP Provision withstands strict scrutiny....
The State's intent appears to be ... the avoidance of using public fundes to subsidize religious worship. A state's "policy preference for skating as far as possible from religious establishment concerns" is not a state interest of the highest order because "achieving greater separation of church and State than is already ensured under the Establishment Clause of the Federal Constitution ... is limited by the Free Exercise Clause." Trinity Lutheran, 137 S. Ct. at 2024....
The court also rejected as adequate other justifications offered by the state for the exclusion of religious school students. (See
prior related posting.)
