St. Dominic Academy v. Makin
Case Snapshot
For decades, Catholic schools like St. Dominic Academy offered rural families a vital education through Maine’s tuition assistance program. But in 1982, the state barred all religious schools. Though the Supreme Court overturned this ban in 2022, Maine preemptively revised its Human Rights Law to exclude schools holding Catholic beliefs on marriage and family. Now, while Maine funds students attending out-of-state girls’ schools exempt from its law, it denies rural families the choice to send their children to schools like St. Dominic.
Status
On June 13, 2023, Becket filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine to uphold the ability of faith-based schools in Maine to serve rural families. On August 8, 2024, the court ruled against the families and schools. Becket appealed the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, which heard oral arguments in the case on January 7, 2025.
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Case Summary
Commitment to Catholic education
For years, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Portland—including St. Dominic Academy—played a vital role in assisting parents educate their children through the state’s tuition assistance program. This program allows families who live in rural school districts to educate their children at private schools where there is no public school nearby. Unfortunately, the state has excluded religious schools from the program for decades—shutting out families who want both strong academics and a faith-based education for their kids.
Daniel and Nancy Cronin are one such family who live in Fayette, Maine. Their son is eligible for Maine’s tuition program, but the nearest public high school doesn’t provide the academic support that he needs, and the nearest private school that participates in the program would cost them over $40,000 a year. The Cronins believe that St. Dominic offers the best environment for their son, and at $14,450 a year, it is the most affordable private day school in Maine. However, because Maine is keeping schools with St. Dominic’s beliefs out of its tuition program, Daniel and Nancy must work additional jobs to pay for his tuition at St. Dominic.
The Cronin’s story is not unique. Keith and Valori Radonis are Catholic parents who lived in rural Maine and believed St. Dominic was the best fit for their children. Due to the state’s exclusion, they were denied the opportunity to participate in the program and were forced to pay out of pocket for tuition at St. Dominic.
The Diocese of Portland’s schools, including St. Dominic, have long offered outstanding academics, graduating high-achieving classes of students that excel on standardized tests and go on to elite colleges and universities. Inspired by Catholic social tradition, they also teach students to devote themselves to serving others from all walks of life. For example, students in the diocese have raised money for food kitchens, cared for the elderly at senior homes, joined mission trips to Mississippi to help rebuild homes devastated by hurricanes, sponsored donation drives for asylum seekers, hosted baby showers to aid local mothers, and raised money to support veterans and their families.
In 1982, Maine abruptly excluded faith-based schools like St. Dominic from the program simply because they were religious. Maine still paid tuition for Maine students attending out-of-state boarding schools and public schools in Quebec, but not for Maine students who wanted to go to religious schools located in Maine. In the decades following, these schools were unable to partner with rural Maine families. This exclusion hasn’t just burdened families—it’s strained the schools themselves. One diocesan high school closed one year after Maine’s exclusion began. Now, after 40 years of being cut off from the program, St. Dominic—the Diocese’s last remaining Catholic high school—is closing its doors because of declining enrollment.
Maine skirts the law to bar funding to religious education
In 2018, three families brought a challenge to Maine’s religious education ban in Carson v. Makin. The Supreme Court took the case, and in 2022 a six-Justice majority struck the state law down, paving the way for St. Dominic and many other faith-based schools to begin serving rural Maine families again.
However, in the lead up to the Carson case at the Supreme Court, officials in Maine saw the writing on the wall. Anticipating that the Court would strike down Maine’s ban on religious schools, Maine passed a new law to keep the religious schools it did not like out. Maine’s new law gives the Maine Human Rights Commission—not parents or the school—the final word on admissions, conduct, speech, and policies upholding Catholic beliefs regarding marriage, gender, and family life. As a result, faith-based schools with traditional beliefs are still being excluded from the state program to help rural families.
Protecting faith-based schools and the families they serve
Maine is punishing schools like St. Dominic because of its commitment to providing a holistic education in accordance with its Catholic beliefs. It is also punishing rural families like the Cronins who want to use the tuition program to send their children to faith-based schools. The Supreme Court has consistently and recently affirmed that states cannot cut off generally available funding from faith-based schools and families because they are religious. Faith-based schools should have the ability to partner with parents who want the best education for their children.
Importance to Religious Liberty:
Education: Religious schools should be able to participate in publicly available programs, and religious school students should be able to participate in these programs on equal footing as students who attend non-religious schools.