Vermont’s Town Tuition Program provides tuition benefits for students who live in towns without public schools. Towns that pay tuition for their students instead of maintaining a public high school are called “sending towns,” and they directly provide tuition on behalf of their students to any private school that the family chooses. Students may use this benefit at any public school or approved secular private school, but the towns denied the benefit to students who chose religious private high schools. That included Rice Memorial High School, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington owns and operates.

Despite a June ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit which halted Vermont school districts’ exclusion of religious students and schools from a state tuition program open to nearly everyone else, government officials have indicated they may resume their discrimination once a preliminary injunction currently in place expires.

In light of that, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a motion in federal district court on behalf of four Catholic high school students, their parents, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington that asks the court to definitively rule in their favor in light of the 2nd Circuit’s ruling, which relied on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

U.S. Supreme Court decisions Espinoza and Trinity Lutheran affirm that religious families are entitled to “an equal share of the rights, benefits, and privileges enjoyed by other citizens” and that the government cannot “impose special disabilities” because schools are religious. As the Supreme Court wrote in one of those decisions, when “the object of a law is to infringe upon or restrict practices because of their religious motivation, the law is not neutral,” and thus “it is invalid.”

Here is how you can pray:

Judicial

Pray that the U.S. District Court of Vermont definitively rules in favor of the Catholic high school students, their parents, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington and upholds the precedent set in Espinoza and Trinity Lutheran.

Legislative

Pray that state legislatures would expand options and tax benefits for parents and students to attend religious K-12 schools.

Cultural

Pray that America recognizes the positive impact religious education has on society.

What is Generational Wins?

Each generation has the responsibility to protect the freedoms of the next. That is why ADF focuses on generational wins. These victories change the law and culture of the nation and are sustained by deliberate action so that the victory endures for future generations.

  • Life is safeguarded
  • Religious Freedom prevails
  • All can Speak Freely
  • Marriage and Family are protected
  • Parental Rights are guaranteed

Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey has teamed up with ADF Church Alliance so your church can become a member at a discounted rate. Visit www.adfchurchalliance.org/BRN to learn more and use promo code BRN250 when you apply.