US EditionVermont settles lawsuit with Christian school, paying $566K after sports competition ban
The settlement ends a yearslong dispute after the school was barred from tournaments over a transgender athlete controversy, and the VPA promised no repeat bans.
- On Wednesday, April 29, 2026, Vermont state education agencies finalized a settlement awarding Mid Vermont Christian School more than $566,000 in damages and legal fees, resolving a years-long dispute over the school's expulsion from athletic competitions.
- Following a 2023 game forfeiture by the Mid Vermont Christian School girls' basketball team against a team with a transgender athlete, the Vermont Principals' Association banned the school from all VPA-sanctioned athletic and academic competitions for two years.
- In September 2025, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the VPA likely violated the school's First Amendment right to free exercise of religion, finding the association acted with hostility toward its religious beliefs and imposed an unprecedented punishment.
- Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman called the settlement a "giant win" for the 1st Amendment, as the resolution officially ends the two-year ban and affirms the school's right to participate in state athletics.
- The settlement may constrain how state athletic associations enforce transgender-participation policies, potentially spurring similar challenges from other religious schools seeking to participate in public benefits programs without abandoning their faith-based beliefs.
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Vermont Principals’ Association pays out $566,000 to settle religious school's lawsuit over athletic participation
Mid Vermont Christian in White River Junction. Photo via Facebook The Vermont Principals’ Association this week settled a lawsuit brought by the Mid Vermont Christian School and two families after the association barred the school from participating in state athletics. The school was first banned from participating in state sports in 2023 after it forfeited a girls’ basketball game rather than play against a team with a transgender player. The V…
VPA to pay $556,000 to Mid-Vermont Christian School for religious discrimination for transgender athlete
BURLINGTON – The Vermont Principals' Association Executive Director Jay Nichols has agreed to pay $566,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to partially settle a religious discrimination civil lawsuit brought by
Christian School Awarded $500k Settlement After Being Banned From Sports Over Opposing Trans Athletes
Louder with Crowder every weekday at 11:00 AM Eastern, only on Rumble Premium!The reason society never needed policies in place to mandate what genders can and cannot compete in certain divisions is that this concept is so simple that it was understood before written language was developed. The left, however, woke up one day and decided that one of the most basic and universal facts ever known to man was controversial. Subsequently, they have be…
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