In Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders, (D VT, May 12, 2026), a Vermont federal district court upheld against constitutional attack a Vermont statute that reduces from 48 to 18 the number of independent schools that are eligible for town tuition payments, i.e. tuition payments for enrollment by students who live in districts that do not have a public high school. The reduction of 30 schools eligible for payments included the elimination of all 14 of the Catholic and Christian schools that were previously eligible. Rejecting plaintiff school's free exercise and equal protection challenges, the court said in part:
If the only issue was whether the language of the statute was neutral, the State would win in a walk....
Mid Vermont has a second string to its bow. Drawing on the "animus" cases such as Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm 'n...., it offers evidence of what it describes as prejudice against public support for religious schools by some of the legislators who voted for Act 73. Whether this court should consider subjective evidence of legislative intent to restrict the free exercise of religious belief is a relatively novel issue....
The statements of the nine legislators identified by Mid Vermont are a thin basis for describing Act 73 - or just Section 21 - as motivated by religious animus. None of the statements were made in floor debate or as part of the Act's legislative history. Instead, most were made in response to an opinion survey and indicate no more than opposition to public funding of religious schools. They cannot reasonably be said to show "pervasive religious intolerance and hostility"....
Finally, Mid Vermont relies on statements by administration officials opposing public funding for religious schools.... It is a step too far, however, to attribute the views of executive officials to state legislators.....
If the court is correct in identifying Act 73 as a statute that is neutral as to religion, then its constitutionality is subject to a rational basis test. It is likely to pass such a test since it addresses multiple issues of educational policy through a program of comprehensive reform....
