The Bishop family lives in a Vermont school district without a high school. Their daughter still needs an education, so they chose Mount St. Joseph Academy, a Catholic high school. Now they’re challenging the government’s refusal to help pay her tuition through a program designed for families whose districts lack a school.
The family filed a federal lawsuit on October 27 challenging its exclusion from Vermont’s Town Tuition and Dual Enrollment programs. Their attorneys also contend that their daughter qualified for a grandfather provision, but the district refused to honor it. Those allegations put a practical question before the court: What educational help can a family actually use?
From Alliance Defending Freedom:
The Bishop family, represented by ADF attorneys, lives in the Barstow Unified Union School District, which doesn’t have a high school, so they chose to send their daughter to a Catholic school, Mount St. Joseph Academy. Government officials, however, denied the family’s request for Town Tuition funding because Act 73 eliminates all religious schools from the Town Tuition Program. Plus, the Barstow Unified School District refused to grandfather the Bishops’ daughter into the tuition program even though she met the requirements of the law.
Additionally, Vermont’s Dual Enrollment Program allows high school students to take college courses at no cost to them, which the Bishops’ daughter wanted to participate in. Eligibility for the program, however, is contingent on Town Tuition—a student must either be enrolled in a public school or receive Town Tuition funding at a private school to be eligible. Since the government denied giving their daughter Town Tuition funding because she attends an ineligible school, she is also excluded from participating in the Dual Enrollment Program.
