Description: Vermont officials are denying Mid Vermont Christian School and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs. Vermont, through its Agency of Education and Vermont Principals’ Association, requires private, religious schools like Mid Vermont Christian to adopt the state’s view on human sexuality and gender—namely, that sex is mutable and biological differences do not matter—as a condition to participate in the state’s tuition program and athletic association. Doing so violates the First Amendment rights of Mid Vermont Christian, its students and families, and other faith-based schools by preventing them from practicing their religious beliefs about sexuality and gender.
Vermont Christian school back in court as state continues to deny tuition benefit for religious families
ADF attorneys will be available for media interviews following hearing Friday
Thursday, May 7, 2026
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, May 8
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, 11 Elmwood Ave., Room 200, Burlington. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Jacqueline Ribeiro at (202) 961-9396.
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Mid Vermont Christian School and one of its families will be available for media interviews Friday following a hearing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont in Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders.
ADF attorneys filed suit against Vermont officials in 2023 after they expelled the school and its students from participating in all state-sponsored sports because the school followed its religious beliefs by forfeiting a girls’ basketball game against a male player. The Vermont Principals Association recently paid $566,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to settle that portion of the lawsuit, but Vermont officials have continued to exclude all religious schools, including Mid Vermont, and their students from participating in the state’s tuition program and other public benefit programs. That issue is the subject of Friday’s hearing.
“Religious schools and the families they serve aren’t second-class citizens. Yet Vermont continues to treat them as such by excluding them from a public benefit available to other secular schools,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jake Reed, who will be arguing before the court. “All parents should be able to send their kids to schools that are the best fit for them, and the First Amendment protects parents’ right to choose religious schools.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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