Public school enrollment has declined in tandem with extremist ideological indoctrination, and now those extremists are doubling down in an effort to cease Vermont’s longstanding support of educational alternatives.
A judge on Monday ruled that a case alleging voter fraud in a vote to keep Windham Elementary School open may continue, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
At the June 6 Windsor County Democrats State Senate Candidate Forum, all three sitting legislators vying for election stated directly or implied heavily that their response to recent Supreme Court decisions would be to end our tuitioning system entirely.
Many states today are following Vermont’s lead and moving toward greater school choice for families, especially after parents have had a firsthand look at public education during the recent pandemic. Ironically, Vermont’s ruling class is considering dismantling our unique system to prevent a few tuition students from selecting religious schools.
“VISA is committed to working with the legislature to support passage of a law requiring all schools receiving public funds to comply with a nondiscrimination law,” said VISA Executive Director Mill Moore.
Last week’s decision moves much closer to that sweeping requirement: all parents — not just tuition town parents — must be given their choice of approved public schools, non-sectarian independent schools, and sectarian independent schools.
This Supreme Court ruling is directly applicable to Vermont. Vermont’s tuition assistance program is very similar to Maine’s. Vermont will have to consider how to reconcile the Carson v. Makin opinion with the Compelled Support Clause in the Vermont Constitution.
In Carson v. Makin, the court ruled 6-3 against the program which excluded students attending religious K-12 schools from taxpayer-provided tuition assistance. “Indeed, were we to accept Maine’s argument, our decision in Espinoza would be rendered essentially meaningless,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Unless and until universal school choice is legislated, the current disagreements voiced throughout the state will be the standard fair — guaranteed.
The legislative session was generally helpful to independent school interests. A bill to provide free school meals to publicly-funded students in the coming school year has passed, along with funding in support of a program adopted last year to test all Vermont schools for PCB contamination.
New Hampshire lawmakers have agreed to conduct regular audits of the state’s new educational freedom voucher program that is diverting taxpayer dollars for students to attend private schools and homeschooling.
The bill limits out-of-state tuitioning only to independent schools in Vermont’s neighboring states and in Quebec. This has been a long time goal of the teachers union, which wants no public tuition money to leave the state, no matter what.