Vermont pays $566K in damages, legal fees to Christian school it banned from all sports competitions for years
FIRST ON FOX: State education agencies in Vermont have paid over $566,000 in damages and legal fees to a Christian school that was banned from all sports and academic competitions for two years after its girls' basketball team refused to compete against a trans athlete in 2023.
A settlement agreement following mediation was finalized on Tuesday that awarded the plaintiffs, including the Mid Vermont Christian School and its law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the $566,000.
Fox News Digital 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 the school's sports teams, and even its academic teams, like spelling bee and mathletes, had to travel out of state to compete against other schools.
The conflict dates back to an afternoon early in the 2023 school year at Mid Vermont Christian, when the school decided to forfeit a girls’ basketball postseason game against a team with a trans athlete.
Their Christian faith was more important to them than a game. But it was still a hard call, and it brought some tears.
"We were all in agreement that the right decision was to not compromise our beliefs and to withdraw, but the conversation with the players was the hardest," Mid Vermont Christian girls' basketball coach Chris Goodwin told Fox News Digital.
"Because you play a 20-game season, and you put in the work and the expectation is that you enter the postseason tournament with a shot to see how you're going to do and to see how far you can get. So there were some teary eyes, and some sad faces, but in the end, they all really did understand that it was the right thing to do."
But it was about to get much harder for not just the team, but for the entire school of about 111 students.
Within days of the forfeit, they learned the consequences escalated far beyond a single game. The Vermont Principals’ Association banned the school, not just from basketball, but from all athletics and a range of academic competitions.
"Almost immediately… they came out very strongly," Goodwin said. "We were going to be banned from all athletic competition in the state… and then on top of that… science fairs and spelling bees."
What followed was not a single lost season, but years of dislocation. The school was forced to arrange competitions with schools out of state just to make sure their extracurricular programs could continue.
Instead of short bus rides to nearby schools, teams traveled hours across state lines. Familiar rivalries disappeared. Home gyms sat quieter.
"The travel is probably triple," Goodwin said. "You’re getting back at 10 o’clock at night… kids trying to do homework. I don't want to say there's a nightmare, but it was difficult."
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 hard part was that we knew we had lost… we lost a couple years of participation. And we had some really good teams during those two years where we would have been, if not winning the state championship, competing for the state championship."
Goodwin says it affected the school's entire culture.
"That’s a big part of the culture… having games in your gym, where parents and community members come," he said. "That just disappeared."
When the school took the issue to the courts, the state and its agencies didn't fold.
ADF Senior Counsel Dave Cortman told Fox News Digital that he was shocked at how firmly the education authorities in Vermont wouldn't back down from their sweeping sanction on the small Christian school.
"It’s been surprising how much the state has dug in their heels," he said. "The arguments they’ve made… even saying your beliefs are wrong...
"Their message was, 'in order for you to follow your religious beliefs, boys are boys, girls are girls, that would actually violate their nondiscrimination policies.' So the irony of it was, they were discriminating against religious schools."
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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 athletics, after two years of banishment had passed. The court then returned the case to district court for further proceedings.
So Goodwin was able to lead his team back onto the court this season.
A bittersweet moment occurred when Mid Vermont Christian made it back to the state tournament and back to the Barre Auditorium. It is the state's old arena every Vermont player dreams about stepping onto for a chance to win a championship.
"When we won our quarterfinal game to get there, our senior captain who graduated a year ago, was talking on the phone to her sister who plays for me now, they're both crying on the phone, number one because of the joy of achieving a goal that they wanted to achieve, but also the sadness of her sister, who's a freshman in college now, not having that opportunity," Goodwin said.
"That's the hardest part to see the sadness that these girls have to experience. Because the state decided to make the decision it just, it was hurtful and it's bittersweet that we're back in, but we are glad we're back in."
For the school and ADF, the satisfaction of their win in court goes beyond just the arena of play, as the movement to "save girls sports" grows nationwide.
Cortman recalled a moment during the proceedings.
"In one of the hearings before the court, the state argued that the school was on the wrong side of history," Cortman said.
"The school is on the right side of history and will be for following his faith in its beliefs, for doing what's right... sometimes there's a price to pay. But it's always the right thing to do. You're always on the right side of history when you stand up for truth."
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