A Vermont Christian school will receive $566,000 from the state’s principals association after being banned from athletic competitions for refusing to play against a team that allowed a biological male to compete on its girls’ basketball roster.
Mid Vermont Christian School reached a partial settlement Thursday with the Vermont Principals’ Association, more than three years after the school was expelled from the state athletic association over a single game forfeiture.
The settlement comes after a federal appeals court ordered that the school be allowed to continue competing while the full lawsuit proceeds.
In February 2023, the school’s girls’ basketball team refused to take the court against a team that included a boy who identified as a girl. School officials said at the time that competing against a male player “jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.” The Vermont Principals’ Association responded by banning the school from all tournament play.
Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group representing Mid Vermont Christian School, called the settlement a direct consequence of state officials targeting a school because of its religious beliefs.
“The government cannot punish religious schools, and the families they serve, by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs,” said David Cortman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Cortman added that the outcome sends a clear message. “For more than two years, state officials denied Mid Vermont Christian School a public benefit available to all other schools in Vermont just because it stood by the widely held, biblical belief that boys and girls are different.”
Head coach Chris Goodwin said the ordeal put him in an unexpected position.
“I never thought I would be in court for simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different,” Goodwin said. “At Mid Vermont Christian School, we strive to exemplify biblical truth in and through everything we do.”
Goodwin added that he will “always” fight for his players to compete in “fair and safe competitions.”
The legal fight is not over. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys continue to litigate additional claims against Vermont officials, including a challenge to the state’s practice of denying tuition funding to students at Christian schools. Vermont operates a tuitioning program that allows students in towns without public schools to attend private institutions at state expense, but has historically excluded religious schools from participating.
The settlement adds to a growing list of legal defeats for state officials who have moved against schools and families over transgender athlete policies. Several female athletes have been injured competing against biological male players in recent years.
