Schools should not be allowed to discriminate if they receive public funds. The new draft bill that came out of the house committee on education Friday addresses that while preserving school choice in communities that rely on it. S.66 and H.258 were attempts to use Carson v Makin as a pretense to eliminate independent schools- even the four town academies would lose the designation of approved independent schools in those bills.

Independent schools have been serving rural towns without public schools since 1869. If the issue is discrimination, act 173 and the 2200 series rules have addressed that. At minimum, they should study the economic impact of this bill on rural communities. Beyond the four traditional academies (all of whom oppose this bill, BTW), towns like Sharon, North Bennington, Kirby, and much of SW Vermont have good, long standing relationships with independent schools that have served those communities needs so well that their economies have come to rely on that relationship.