Vermont – Town Tuitioning Program

Students must live in Vermont and reside in an identified “tuitioning” town (i.e. towns that do not operate a public school at a given grade level range). Although most “tuitioning“ towns allow parents to choose which schools will receive their students, some towns send all their students to one school. _(Last updated July 25, 2024)_

Funds may only be used toward tuition _(Last updated July 25, 2024)_

Many towns in Vermont, particularly in rural areas, do not operate public high schools and/or elementary schools. Students in those towns may use public dollars to attend any public or approved independent (private) school in or outside of Vermont. The “tuitioning” towns pay tuition directly to the “receiving” schools. When students are “tuitioned” at public schools, the sending town pays the receiving school district an amount equal to the receiving district’s average per pupil costs, as calculated by the Vermont Agency of Education. When students are “tuitioned” at private schools for K–6, the voucher is typically worth the lesser of the average announced tuition for Vermont public schools, calculated each year by the state; the average per-pupil tuition that the district pays for its other students; or the private school’s tuition. Voters can approve a higher amount. When students are “tuitioned” at private schools for grades 7–12, the voucher is typically worth the lesser of the average announced tuition for Vermont public schools, calculated each year by the state, or the private school’s tuition. Voters can approve a higher amount, and school districts also pay higher amounts for high schools that function as approved area career centers, high schools designated as public high schools, and high schools that are designated by the Vermont Agency of Education as meeting certain education quality standards. _(Last updated July 25, 2024)_

On March 17, 2023, the Vermont Supreme Court rendered a 5-0 opinion against parent plaintiffs in _Vitale et al., v. Bellows Falls Union High School_. The case began when Vermont parents who do not live in towns with tuitioning (or in towns that only tuition particular grades) sued the state for failing to provide town tuitioning equally to all children of the state. They argued the “fortuity of a child’s residence” determines whether a child will have educational opportunity and this conflicts with their children’s right under the state constitution to a publicly funded education that is offered equally to all children. The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the case yet clarified the scope of the Vermont Constitution’s Education Clause and Common Benefits Clause, which may be advantageous to parents seeking educational choice in the future. The Vermont Supreme Court declared “Vermont children have a fundamental right to education under the Education Clause.” However, the Court views school choice programs as “a means to provide for educational opportunities,” not an opportunity itself, and thus “school choice is permitted but not required.” For the Common Benefits Clause to be violated, school choice programs must be proven “unreasonable or unjust under the law . . . judged in relation to a governmental purpose like providing quality education while adapting to local needs and desires.” Similarly, the court concludes that “methods appropriate for providing adequate educational opportunity . . . ‘can and should be modified’ if they no longer serve their intended purpose.” _Vitale et al.,v. Bellows Falls Union High School_ , 2023 VT 15, No. 22-AP-059. On February 16, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont rendered a stipulated judgment in the case _Valente et al., v. French et al_. The court declared that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Carson decision (see MAINE) renders unconstitutional the Vermont Supreme Court precedent requiring “adequate safeguards against the use of [tuition] funds for religious worship.” Further, the state cannot “deny or restrict payment of tuition to independent schools based on their religious status, affiliation, beliefs, exercise, or activities” within a school choice program. _Valente et al., v. French et al_., U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, Case 2:20-cv-00135-cr. _(Last updated December 14, 2023)_