Three Amish schools face $118,000 in penalties for allowing unvaccinated children to attend classes, prompting a renewed Supreme Court challenge over whether New York’s elimination of religious exemptions violates constitutional protections.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Three Amish schools in New York have been fined a combined $118,000 for allowing unvaccinated children to attend classes, escalating a legal battle over religious freedom, parental rights and the state’s school vaccination requirements that is now awaiting possible review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The penalties were imposed on Dygert Road School, Pleasant View School, also known as Twin Mountain School, and Shady Lane School, which serve Amish communities in Clymer, Heuvelton and the Canajoharie area.
According to federal court records in Miller v. McDonald, New York’s health commissioner assessed $52,000 against Dygert Road School, $46,000 against Pleasant View School and $20,000 against Shady Lane School after determining that students attended without the immunizations required under state law.
The schools, which operate as small, privately funded Amish religious institutions, contend that the penalties threaten their continued operation and could force families to leave New York.
Under New York Public Health Law § 2164, children attending public, private or parochial schools must receive specified vaccinations unless they qualify for a medical exemption. Students generally cannot remain enrolled beyond a 14-day grace period without meeting the requirements.
New York eliminated its longstanding religious exemption on June 13, 2019, following a measles outbreak that prompted state lawmakers to tighten school immunization requirements.
The repeal passed the Assembly 84-61 and the Senate 36-26, leaving medical exemptions as the primary exception to the vaccination mandate.
The Department of Health audited the three Amish schools in November and December 2021 and subsequently charged them with allowing students to attend without the required immunization records.
The state calculated the penalties at $2,000 per student for Dygert Road and Pleasant View, counting one day of noncompliance for each child. Because Shady Lane did not provide student records, officials calculated its $20,000 penalty using one student attending for 10 days.
The health commissioner characterized the assessments as “principled and conservative under the circumstances,” although an administrative hearing judge had recommended against imposing financial penalties because of concerns about adequate notice.
Under state law, individual violations can result in fines of up to $2,000, with higher penalties possible for repeat violations. The current assessments do not authorize the schools to continue enrolling unvaccinated students without further consequences.
Aaron Siri, managing partner of Siri & Glimstad, which represents the Amish families, criticized the penalties and argued that the state is effectively demanding that the community abandon its religious convictions.
“That’s $2,000 per student per day,” Siri said. “The state of New York has now told them… you want to stay in this state, you need to abandon your religious beliefs.”
The schools maintain that their religious practices require educating children together in traditional Amish classrooms, often in one-room buildings located on privately owned community land.
Their legal complaint states that many Amish families object to vaccination because of sincerely held religious beliefs, including concerns about historical connections between some vaccine development processes and abortion-derived cell lines.
The families also contend that their schools operate without state funding and that requiring compliance would interfere with their religious upbringing of children.
“The Amish want to be able to practice their religion in peace in New York,” Siri said. “They want to continue engaging in the manner that they have lived for almost 200 years in New York. These are small one-room classrooms. Amish buildings on Amish land with Amish teachers. All paid for by the Amish.”
“Even over $100,000 is far too much to ask the Amish to pay,” he added. “The state of New York knows that. They are intent on having the Amish abandon their beliefs or leave New York.”
Attorneys representing the families argue that paying the fines would require selling land or other community property. They have also warned that some families may relocate to Pennsylvania, which continues to permit religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements.
The dispute began in federal court in June 2023, when Amish parents, school representatives and the three institutions challenged the vaccination law under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
They also invoked the Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Wisconsin v. Yoder, which recognized the right of Amish parents to withdraw their children from formal schooling after eighth grade based on religious objections.
A federal district court dismissed the challenge in March 2024, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld that decision in March 2025.
The Supreme Court subsequently vacated the appellate ruling in December 2025 and directed the Second Circuit to reconsider the case in light of Mahmoud v. Taylor, a decision addressing parents’ religious objections to certain public school instruction.
However, the Second Circuit again rejected the Amish families’ arguments on June 30, 2026.
The appeals court concluded that New York’s vaccination requirements were neutral and generally applicable because they applied to students regardless of religious affiliation.
The judges also distinguished mandatory vaccination from the educational content disputes addressed in Yoder and Mahmoud, finding that the vaccination law did not impose the same type of burden on religious instruction.
The court therefore concluded that the statute satisfied the applicable constitutional standard.
Alabama and 19 other states supported the Amish families through an amicus brief, arguing that the case presents important questions about religious exemptions and government authority.
On Sept. 28, attorneys from First Liberty Institute, Siri & Glimstad, Lehotsky Keller Cohn and attorney Chris Wiest filed another petition asking the Supreme Court to review the case.
The petition was docketed Oct. 2 as No. 26-438, with New York’s response scheduled for Nov. 2.
The families are asking the justices to determine whether the state violated the Free Exercise Clause by eliminating religious accommodations while retaining medical exemptions.
They are also asking the Court to reconsider Employment Division v. Smith, the 1990 precedent holding that neutral, generally applicable laws may be enforced even when they incidentally burden religious practices.
The New York Department of Health has declined to comment on the pending litigation but maintains that its school immunization requirements are grounded in scientific evidence and intended to protect public health.
Public health authorities emphasize that vaccination reduces the risk of serious infectious diseases, including measles, and that outbreaks can affect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, particularly infants and people who cannot receive certain vaccines for medical reasons.
The Amish families do not dispute that New York maintains a public health interest. Their legal challenge instead asks whether that interest permits the state to impose substantial financial penalties on religious schools without considering accommodations for their particular circumstances.
With the $118,000 in fines remaining at issue and the possibility of additional penalties for continued noncompliance, the schools face financial uncertainty while awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to hear their appeal.
The case could provide another opportunity for the justices to examine the constitutional limits of state vaccination mandates and the extent to which religious communities may seek exemptions from generally applicable laws.
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