EdChoice Files Amicus Briefs Supporting Religious Schools And Families

Last week, EdChoice Legal Advocates (EdLA) filed amicus briefs in two federal lawsuits, expressing support for religious schools and families seeking to participate in educational choice programs in Colorado and Vermont.

In both cases, the states are excluding religious schools from their programs, which hurts families by taking away those religious education options. EdLA explained in its briefs that the Constitution forbids states from barring religious providers from educational choice programs. EdLA also explained that including religious education among the choices available to families is critical to the success of choice programs.

In St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, the U.S. Supreme Court will review a legal challenge involving Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program. Colorado requires private schools that participate in this program to follow an “equal opportunity” mandate that conflicts with the Catholic petitioners’ sincere religious beliefs about gender and sexuality. The petitioners include the Archdiocese of Denver, St. Mary Catholic Parish, and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish — Catholic preschool providers who would like to participate in the universal preschool program. Right now, they cannot do so without giving up their faith-based religious policies. Also petitioning is a Catholic family who would like to use the preschool program to send their children to these schools.

On July 2, EdChoice, joined by the Defense of Freedom Institute, Wagner Faith Freedom Center, and Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, filed an amicus brief in the case supporting the Catholic education providers and parents.

“Religious schools, and Catholic schools in particular, have been critical to the success of education freedom for decades. Excluding them based on their religious exercise not only offends the Constitution but also deprives the education marketplace of choices parents need for their children to succeed,” EdLA wrote in its brief for the Court.

EdLA has been standing by the St. Mary petitioners for a while.

At earlier stages in the case, EdLA filed amicus briefs supporting the petitioners in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and in support of the petition for the Supreme Court to review the case after the Tenth Circuit ruled against them. In April 2026, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Tenth Circuit’s decision.

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument during its October 2026 Term.

In the second case, Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders, a religious school and family are appealing an order denying their request for a preliminary injunction against Vermont’s eligibility requirements for its Town Tuition Program.

After the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Carson v. Makin holding that states cannot bar religious schools from educational choice programs, Vermont finally began to allow religious schools to participate in its Town Tuition Program.

But in 2025, the state legislature enacted Act 73, which imposed new and burdensome requirements on participating private schools, including that the school must be located in a district that does not operate a public school, and that the school must have received district-funded tuition for at least 25% of its enrollment during the 2023-2024 school year.

Before those eligibility requirements took effect, 15 religious schools were able to accept students who paid using town-tuition funds. But since the new rules took effect, no religious school qualifies for the program.

On July 1, EdLA filed its amicus brief supporting the appellant religious school and family, explaining that the Constitution bars a state from tying eligibility for a school choice program to the state’s prior history of excluding religious schools unlawfully.

“Vermont’s exclusion of all religious education options from its Town Tuition Program thus deprives the education marketplace of exactly the meaningful choices parents need for their children to succeed,” EdLA wrote in its brief.

The appeal will be reviewed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

EdLA is proud to stand with these religious schools and families and defend their constitutional rights to participate in school choice programs across the country.