ublic taxpayer money may not used to subsidize tuition for students attending religious schools, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision in the case of CHITTENDEN TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT v. VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION was unanimous, although the justices may have left the door open for some voucher aid to sectarian schools if controls are in place to guarantee that tax dollars are not used for religious instructions.

   Writing for the majority, Justice John Dooley opined, "We focus on the Vermont Constitution and conclude that a school district violates (the State constitution) when it reimburses tuition for a sectarian school ... in the absence of adequate safeguards against the use of such funds for religious worship."

   The case stems from a move made in 1995 by the school board of Chittenden, Vermont, to subsidize tuition of students to attend Catholic Mount St. Joseph Academy in neighboring Rutland. The town of Chittenden does not have its own public high school, and as in the case of Maine, pays for students to attend public or private schools in other communities. The Vermont Department of Education stopped its portion of financial assistance to the school district, though, when the board approved vouchers for 15 local students to attend the parochial school. The town filed suit in Superior Court, and in 1997 a judge ruled against the use of vouchers in that case.

   Justice Denise Johnson wrote that while she agreed with the high court's decision, she found that any form of subsidy to sectarian schools -- even with controls -- would run afoul of the state constitution. "While I agree with the result reached by the majority," she opined, "I believe that the majority asks and answers the wrong question, causing it to delve into a lengthy and unnecessary analysis of the distinction (or lack thereof) between religious education and religious worship." Johnson added that citizens cannot be compelled to support or subsidize any place of worship, and that Mount St. Joseph school is such a place.

   Attorney William Meub who represented the Chittenden School Board said that the court's verdict "is throwing the ball back to the Legislature, and legislative bodies like school boards," which would presumably design ways of restricting how public funds would be spent by religious schools. "And if you can find a way, folks, to solve that problem, then you can money to sectarian schools, and we will evaluate it on a case-by-case basis."

"We ... conclude that the school district violates (the state constitution) when it reimburses tuition for a sectarian school ... in the absence of adequate safeguards against the use of such funds for religious worship."

   Associated Press noted that the court decision "gave no opinion on how the state should come up with a tuition scheme that would comply" with the constitution.

   Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said that the ruling "leaves an awful lot of unanswered questions," adding that the court "goes out of its way to list a number of issues on which it's expressing no opinion, and making no decision."

   Bob Chase, President of the National Education Association (NEA) hailed the ruling, saying "America's children won an important victory today. Now let's get back to the job of improving public education instead of siphoning off scarce public resources for the benefit of a privileged few." NEA was one of the sponsors of the suit.

   The Vermont decision comes following rulings by appellate and state courts. On May 27, 1999, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that voucher subsidies to religious schools violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment separation of church and state; that decision is binding in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. Supreme Courts in Maine and Ohio have also struck down voucher programs, although the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Milwaukee voucher scheme.

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