A bill that puts “guardrails” around tuitioning to religious independent schools and expands dual enrollment passed the Senate after a long gestation in the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Courts have ruled recently that religious schools must be included in voucher programs that are made available to other non-public schools. This has raised concern among many educators and politicians that using taxpayer dollars may involve religious indoctrination.
The Burlington Catholic Diocese and two families with children attending Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland have filed a federal lawsuit against AOE Secretary French, and the Superintendent and School Directors of the Barstow School District seeking access to public tuition funds.
This year and the ensuing biennium are likely to be landmark years for the future of parental choice in education in Vermont. Tuition grants to parents to choose what’s best for their children will force complacent public schools to respond to competition.
Over 70% of Americans support funding students’ education rather than public education systems, according to a new poll conducted by RealClear Opinion Research.
Lawmakers in the Senate Committee on Education on Friday passed a bill 6-0 that would restrict public funds going to some independent and religious schools.
S.219 would have either the Agency of Education or the State Board of Education include in the independent school approval process new requirements that no school may discriminate against protected groups nor use public funds to support religious observances or indoctrination.
Sue Ceglowski of the Vermont School Boards said her organization is concerned that an increase in non-operating districts will increase the number of students attending independent schools, and particularly attending religious schools.
For the past 12 years states from around the country have been taking time to recognize the critical impact that school choice has on the lives of young students. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has named this week “School Choice Week” here in Vermont.
A tuition ban cannot succeed without also including an eminent domain state expropriation of several independent schools which fulfill a public school role in their regions, likely including some or all of the so-called “town academies.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Carson v. Makin, a case that carries national implications regarding religious freedom as it relates to government-run school choice programs.
The Brattleboro Reformer is reporting a story of potential voter fraud in regard to a vote on the closing of Windham Elementary School. This case has echoes of one from Victory, Vermont, back in 2017, wherein a number of non-residents participated by absentee ballot in an election for town clerk.