Unsplash photo by Element5 Digital. Vermont will now apply its tuition benefit program to families who choose to send their children to religious schools. In 1869, Vermont established its Town Tuition Program to provide vouchers to families so they could attend the school of their choice when living in a small town without public schools. It is based on the principle that towns pay the tuition to other schools instead of paying to maintain a public school as a way of fulfilling their obligation to provide an education to their residents. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled the law could not fund tuition to religious schools because “it forced taxpayer support of religious worship.” Families were approved when choosing secular private schools. Two high school students, their parents, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington sued Vermont officials in February for not only failing to act neutrally toward religion, as required by the First Amendment, but also for “exhibiting a remarkable hostility” toward religion. According to the Williams’ family allegations, the Barstow Unified Union School District denied their request for tuition reimbursement several times after adopting a policy to collect “information on private religious schools’ religious activity and […]
