Mid Vermont Christian School has secured a $566,000 settlement with Vermont state education agencies following a two-year ban from all sports and academic competitions after refusing to allow its girls’ basketball team to compete against a transgender athlete in 2023.

The school’s decision—based on its Christian beliefs that men and women are inherently different and that sex cannot be changed—led to the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) expelling it from state athletics and academic competitions. A federal appeals court later ruled the VPA violated the school’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by acting with hostility toward its religious beliefs during the disciplinary process.

“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 far you can get,” said coach Chris Goodwin, who described the team’s understanding of their decision despite “teary eyes” during discussions. “We were all in agreement that the right decision was to not compromise our beliefs.”

The VPA had previously mandated Vermont schools assign athletes to teams based on gender identity rather than biological sex, forcing female students like M.G.—a varsity girls’ basketball player at Mid Vermont Christian—to compete against male athletes. After the school forfeited a game against Long Trail High School in Dorset due to this conflict, the VPA suspended it from all sports and academic activities without proper notice or fair review.

A federal appeals court ruled in September 2025 that the VPA’s actions were “unprecedented, overbroad, and procedurally irregular,” overturning its expulsion order. The settlement now resolves the school’s legal challenges while affirming that religious schools may uphold their beliefs without state punishment in matters of athletics.