California Sues Trump Administration Over COVID-19 Relief Funds for Public Schools

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is suing the U.S. Department of Education for a policy that he says “siphons” away pandemic relief funds from public schools to private ones, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Becerra is joined by Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel in leading four other states and the District of Columbia in their suit, which names Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as a defendant.

Under the education department’s rule released last week, school districts would be allowed to choose how to spend funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, giving them the option to divert more money to local private schools.

When the relief package was issued on March 26, public schools were allocated more than $13 billion to cover pandemic-related costs, with the state of California receiving around $1.5 billion in aid.

The Department of Education argued that federal funding should be given to all students attending both public and private institutions.

In a statement, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond called the department’s rule “unconscionable” for attempting to divert funds from low-income students.

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Secretary DeVos will argue that it's about providing equitable services, but that couldn't be further from the truth," Becerra said at a press conference Tuesday. "This pandemic is hurting all of our schools. But those with the fewest resources have less ways to confront the challenges.”

Under the rule issued by DeVos, school districts are ordered to set aside a portion of their aid for private schools using a formula based on the total number of private school students in the district.

The policy has been contested by public school officials who say the funding should be shared based on the number of low-income students at local private schools, rather than their total enrollments. That’s how funding is shared with private schools under other federal rules that Congress referenced in the legislation creating the relief aid.

But DeVos has said the funding is separate from other federal aid and was meant to support all students.

The rule “creates a false choice where school districts must include private schools on the basis of their total population or be forced to jump through unnecessary hoops to do what Congress intended and make sure the funds get to schools that are hurting the most,” Becerra said.

He said the rule undermines the intent of Congress and violates the separation of powers as established by the U.S. Constitution.

Becerra said it is not that private schools are ineligible for relief funds, but that Congress called for those funds to be distributed on the basis of need.

“Some of those private schools have already been able to access hundreds of billions of dollars from the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program, unlike California public schools that can’t,” he said.

Becerra said it could cost California public schools $1.5 billion in funding.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.