DeVos sued by 19 state attorneys general for suspending student loan rules

Democratic attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia sued U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday over her decision to suspend rules that were meant to protect students from abuse by for-profit colleges.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, says DeVos violated rule-making laws when she announced a June 14 decision to delay so-called borrower defense to repayment rules, which were finalized under President Barack Obama and scheduled to take effect July 1.

In her announcement saying the rules would be delayed and rewritten, DeVos said they created “a muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools.”

Education Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill called the lawsuit by attorneys generals “ideologically driven” and said the now-delayed rules suffered from “substantive and procedural flaws” that need to be addressed.

“That is why the Secretary decided it was time to take a step back and hit pause on these regulations until this case has been decided in court and to make sure these rules achieve their purpose: helping harmed students,” Hill said in a statement.

The rules would have forbidden schools from forcing students to sign agreements that waive their right to sue. Defrauded students would have faced a quicker path to get their loans erased, and schools, not taxpayers, could have been held responsible for the costs.

A final version of the rules was announced last fall after nearly two years of negotiations. The Obama administration started pursuing new rules after the Corinthian Colleges chain shut down in 2015 amid allegations of misconduct, leading to a flood of applications from students seeking to get their loans forgiven.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is leading the lawsuit against DeVos, said the regulation was a “common-sense measure” meant to protect students.

“Since Day One of the Trump administration, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the administration have sided with for-profit schools over students,” Healey told reporters. “For me and my colleagues, it’s simple: When students and families are cheated out of an education and taxpayers foot the bill, everybody loses.”

The lawsuit says DeVos and the Education Department failed to take legally required steps to delay already established rules. It says they failed to open the decision to public comment and failed to provide an adequate legal justification for delaying the rules, among other faults.

In June, the Education Department said it was delaying the rule because a federal court was weighing a lawsuit brought by a California trade group made up mostly of forprofit colleges seeking to block the rules. The department cited a law allowing such a delay for litigation if it’s found “that justice so requires.”

The attorneys general said that justification is “a mere pretext” for repealing and replacing the regulation.