A new legal battle is brewing over the future of education in Vermont as the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging Act 73, a 2025 law that significantly narrows the state’s long-standing town tuitioning system.
For over 200 years, this program has allowed students in rural or small towns without local public schools to use public funds to attend approved independent schools, including those with religious affiliations. The new legislation, however, introduces strict new hurdles that critics say dismantle this historic pathway for families.
Under the amended 16 V.S.A. § 828, the state has implemented several new restrictions. Vouchers can no longer be used at any school established after July 1, 2025, and eligibility is now tied to specific supervisory structures based on whether a district operated a public school as of mid-2024.
Additionally, for an independent school to remain eligible, at least 25% of its 2023–24 student body must have consisted of tuitioned students from the district. The law also mandates class-size minimums, offering only a narrow waiver process for those who fail to meet the count.
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These new benchmarks effectively bar families from choosing independent schools located near public ones—even if the public option is not a fit for the student—and exclude schools that do not rely heavily on public tuition for their enrollment.
The Liberty Justice Center, representing Vermont parents Kollene Caspers and Michele Orosz from the town of Georgia, argues that these rules are arbitrary and violate the state constitution by stripping away educational opportunities based on factors unrelated to a child’s needs.
“Act 73 puts special interests over the interests of children,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center. “This law limits the ability of Vermont families to meet their educational need and rescinds a tradition that goes back two centuries. Doing so violates the Vermont Constitution.”
The impact is personal for the plaintiffs. Because Georgia does not have its own public high school, the state is required to provide tuition funding for students to go elsewhere. However, the new law has rendered the specific schools the families desired ineligible for their younger children.
“There is no rhyme or reason to which schools and which kids get to stay eligible for town tuitioning and which ones the Legislature blocked,” said Michele Orosz. “Our city doesn’t have a public high school—the State will be paying town tuitioning regardless. There is no reason to block my younger kids from getting the same opportunity as my eldest.”
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