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FIRST ON FOX: Vermont state education agencies have paid $566,000 in damages and legal fees to a Christian school that was banned from all athletic and academic competitions for two years after its women’s basketball team refused to compete with a trans athlete in 2023.
A judge’s ruling was finalized Tuesday and awarded plaintiffs, including Mid Vermont Christian School and its law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), $566,000. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in November 2023 and have now officially received their winnings.
PK Press Club Digital has reached out to the Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont State Board of Education for a response.
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The settlement comes after a years-long saga in which all of the school’s sports teams, and even its academic teams, like the spelling bee and mathletes, had to travel out of state to compete against other schools.
The conflict dates back to one afternoon early in the 2023 school year at Mid Vermont Christian, when the school decided to forfeit a girls’ basketball playoff game against a team that included a trans athlete.
Their Christian faith was more important to them than a game. But it was still a difficult decision and it made me cry.
“We all agreed that the right decision was not to compromise our beliefs and walk away, but the conversation with the players was the hardest,” Mid Vermont Christian girls basketball coach Chris Goodwin told PK Press Club Digital.
“Because you play a 20-game season, and you’ve worked and you’re expected to go into the playoff tournament with a chance to see how you’re going to do and see how far you can go. So there were some teary eyes and some sad faces, but in the end, they all really understood that it was the right thing to do.”
But it was going to become much more difficult, not only for the team, but also for the entire school, which has around 111 students.
A few days after the forfeit, they learned that the consequences would escalate well beyond a single match. The Vermont Principals’ Association banned the school, not only for basketball, but for all sports and a series of academic competitions.
“Almost immediately…they came out really strong,” Goodwin said. “We were going to be banned from any athletic competition in the state…and on top of that…science fairs and spelling bees.”
What followed was not a single lost season, but years of upheaval. The school was forced to hold competitions with out-of-state schools simply to ensure their extracurricular programs could continue.
Instead of short bus rides to nearby schools, teams crossed state lines for hours. The familiar rivalries are gone. Home gyms were quieter.
“The journey is probably threefold,” Goodwin said. “You come home at 10 p.m…. the kids are trying to do their homework. I don’t want to say it’s a nightmare, but it was hard.”
Along the way, Goodwin said there were teams he coached that had the potential to win the state championship, but never got the chance.
“You know, the hardest part is we knew we lost…we lost a few years of participation. And we had some really good teams those two years where we could have, if we hadn’t won the state championship, competed for the state championship.”
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Goodwin says it affected the entire culture of the school.
“It’s a big part of the culture … having games in your gym, where parents and community members come,” he said. “It just disappeared.”
When the school took the matter to court, the state and its agencies did not relent.
ADF lead attorney Dave Cortman told PK Press Club Digital he was shocked at how steadfastly Vermont education officials would not back down on their sweeping sanctions against the small Christian school.
“It’s surprising how stubborn the state is,” he said. “The arguments they made…even saying your beliefs are wrong…
“Their message was, ‘for you to follow your religious beliefs, boys are boys, girls are girls, which would actually violate their non-discrimination policies.’ The irony of the situation was that they discriminated against religious schools. »
The Mid Vermont Christian School girls’ basketball team is playing after the school was reinstated in Vermont state sports following a February 2024 U.S. Court of Appeals order. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
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The turning point came in 2025, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the school reinstated while the case continued — a decision that opened the door for students to return to competition.
The appeals court ruled in September 2025 that Mid Vermont Christian must be allowed to participate in state sports, after two years of banishment. The court then remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.
So Goodwin was able to get his team back on the field this season.
A bittersweet moment occurred when Mid Vermont Christian returned to the state tournament and Barre Auditorium. It’s the old state arena that every Vermont player dreams of entering for a chance at a championship.
“When we won our quarterfinal game to get there, our senior captain, who graduated a year ago, was talking on the phone with her sister who plays for me now. They are both crying on the phone, first because of the joy of achieving a goal they wanted to achieve, but also the sadness of her sister, who is now a freshman in college, for not having this opportunity,” Goodwin said.
The Mid Vermont Christian School girls’ basketball team has been reinstated to Vermont state athletics following a court order from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in June 2024. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
“That’s the hardest part, seeing the sadness that these girls must be experiencing. Because the state decided to make the right decision, it was hurtful and it’s bittersweet that we’re back, but we’re happy to be back.”
For the school and the ADF, the satisfaction of their victory in court extends beyond just the playing arena, as the movement to “save women’s sports” grows nationally.
Cortman recalled a moment from the procedure.
“In one of the court hearings, the state argued that the school was on the wrong side of history,” Cortman said.
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“The school is on the right side of history and will be for following one’s faith in one’s beliefs, for doing what is right…sometimes there is a price to pay. But it is always the right thing to do. You are always on the right side of history when you stand up for the truth.”
