State sues to stop rule aiding private schools
SACRAMENTO — California is suing to stop a Trump administration regulation that would require states to give more of their federal coronavirus relief money to private schools.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed suit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos, alleging that her rule violated Congress’ intent and would unlawfully divert tens of millions of dollars away from the neediest public school students.
“Ultimately, it’s a shakedown of lowincome schools across the country,” Becerra said during a news conference.
The Cares Act, which Congress passed in March, included more than $13 billion for K12 schools to deal with the costs of the coronavirus pandemic, such as cleaning facilities, buying new technology and doing outreach to disadvantaged students. California received more than $1.6 billion through that provision.
The money was set to be distributed the same way the federal government hands out its regular Title I funding to help children from lowincome families meet state academic standards, based on how many eligible students a school district serves. Some of that aid is reserved for lowincome students at private schools who are struggling academically.
But last month, DeVos issued a rule requiring states to provide “equitable services” for private schools. If states want to use Cares Act dollars on services that broadly benefit all students, they must allocate the money based on total student population.
That would shift tens of millions of dollars away from public districts to private schools in California, Becerra said, benefiting some institutions that charge tens of thousands of dollars per year in tuition and don’t need the help.
Tony Thurmond, California’s superintendent of public instruction, lambasted DeVos for breaking with the tradition of directing federal aid to the neediest students.
“This new rule,” he said, “brings politics into a conversation when it should only be, ‘How do we support people during the pandemic?’ ”
The federal rule does give states the option of focusing their Cares Act funding only on lowincome students, but states would have to distribute the money based on how much schools received through the Title I program last year.
The lawsuit calls this a poison pill, unfairly limiting how schools can spend the federal coronavirus aid and leaving out numerous lowincome students at schools that do not qualify for Title I.
“This is going to hurt the children who are most in need, and it’s going to get in the way of critical work to ensure students have food to eat,” Becerra said, referring to the expansion of free meal programs at California schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
Angela Morabito, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the pandemic has affected all students.
“There is no reasonable explanation for debating the use of federal funding to serve both public and private K12 students when federal funding, including Cares Act funding, flows to both public and private higher education institutions,” she said in a statement.
Advocates for private schools warn that many are struggling to survive as the pandemic has wiped out their enrollment and fundraising efforts.
Becerra, who filed the suit in federal court, was joined by the attorneys general for Michigan, Maine, New Mexico, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.