Preliminary Injunction Prevents the U.S. Department of Education from Implementing New Equitable Services Rule
On Friday evening, a federal judge in Washington State issued a preliminary injunction that prevents U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from enforcing the equitable services interpretation and subsequent rule that the U.S. Department of Education issued in regard to the distribution of education funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The Department’s recent interpretation of equitable services requires funding from the CARES Act to be distributed to nonpublic schools based on total enrollment, rather than enrollment of low-income students. This interpretation has resulted in a greater share of federal COVID-19 relief funding being distributed to nonpublic schools than has been historically required under the law.
The judge agreed that the Department’s guidance would benefit private schools and harm the state’s poorest public school students, calling the Department’s move “remarkably callous and blind to the realities of this extraordinary pandemic and the very purpose of the CARES Act: to provide relief where it is most needed.”
This is the first ruling against the Department, and similar challenges are being brought by Democratic state attorney generals and the NAACP. The Department has the option to appeal.
To further complicate the outcome of these legal challenges, many states have already moved forward with distribution of CARES Act funding under the new Department rule.
Last month, CEC wrote a letter to the Department in opposition to the equitable services rule because it diverts funding intended for public schools. CEC President Dr. Jenn Lesh urged the Department to rescind the rule “so that our most vulnerable students are supported, and our public-school system does not experience further financial erosion.”