The dictates of conscience in Vermont

Dear Editor,                                                                                                     

Does Vermont still believe in the separation of church and state? The newly elected legislature must address this question.

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Carson v. Makin decision required that states providing tuition reimbursement to independent and charter schools must extend those same programs to religious schools as well as nonreligious schools. The Vermont Agency of Education complied with the decision and told school districts they could not withhold public tuition money from schools simply because of their religious affiliation. However, in Vermont, there is a constitutional provision called the compelled support clause, which prohibits the state from using public tax dollars to support religious worship or instruction “contrary to the dictates of conscience.”  

Chapter 1, Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution states, in part, “that no person ought to, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of conscience.” Note that this is an individual right understood to mean that Vermont cannot force a taxpayer or citizen to subsidize religious programming or institutions against their will.

Vermont’s Constitution reflects a dedication to religion and religious liberty. It also recognizes that freedom of conscience—the freedom to engage in and support religious worship as dictated by one’s mind, not by the government—is a necessary aspect of religious freedom. Freedom from compelled support for the religion of others is a central aspect of Vermonters’ religious freedom. To those who drafted the Vermont Constitution, freedom from compelled support for the religion of others was not in opposition to the free exercise of religion. It was freedom of religion.

Vermont’s tuition program is, therefore, in a difficult position. A district that declines to provide tuition money to a religious school may violate the U.S. Constitution under the Supreme Court’s decision. However, sending public dollars to that school could violate taxpayer’s “dictates of conscience” and thereby violate the Vermont Constitution.

Because of the Vermont Agency of Education’s directive, Vermont continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the framers of our constitutions fought to build. We are now sending money to schools to support the teaching and practice of religion. These schools also have admission policies that allow them to deny enrollment based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion. Many of these schools have a history of discriminatory practices against our LGBTQ+ community of students and educators.

Vermonters should recognize the importance and, indeed, the privilege of having freedom of conscience. Our state was founded on this freedom. The framers of Vermont’s Constitution were willing to fight and die for this freedom, which is worth preserving today. The Vermont Agency of Education should not be allowed to take the freedom of conscience away from our citizens.

The holding in Carson v. Makin does not require that the state pay tuition to religious schools. States are allowed to fund only public schools. However, if states choose to fund private schools, then they cannot exclude religious schools.

The Vermont legislature needs to consider revisions to our state educational tuition reimbursement program to control our property taxes and address the disregard for the compelled support clause of our constitution. When taxpayer dollars support private and religious schools, we are publicly funding everything they do. That is what causes constitutional problems—the segregation and discrimination of students are contrary to the dictates of conscience for many of our citizens.  

We must recognize that a good public education is the great equalizer in our democracy. Rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, those with disabilities and those without, everyone has the right to a free, inclusive, high-quality public education. People have the right to provide their children with a private or religious school education. However, they do not have a right to have public money fund these alternatives. The Vermont legislature needs to correct this.

G. Gregory Hughes, Bethel