(WWJ/AP) Michigan, California and three other states are suing the U.S. Department of Education over pandemic relief funds.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the attorneys general of California and Michigan say the department run by Secretary Betsy DeVos is attempting to take pandemic relief funds away from K-12 public schools and divert them to private schools. Maine, New Mexico, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia have joined the lawsuit.
They say the department's interim final rule would allow public schools that charge tuition similar to private colleges to get funds based on the total population they serve.
“Secretary DeVos has decided to use this public health crisis as another opportunity to advance her personal privatization agenda. Instead of sending relief money to the students most in need as required under the CARES Act, she has abused the Department of Education’s rulemaking power to redirect money to private schools. At a time when Michigan schools are facing an unprecedented crisis, every single child deserves the chance to succeed. But, yet again, Secretary DeVos has decided to tip the scales in favor of private schools, leaving the State’s public-school students behind,” said Michigan AG General Nessel, in a media release.
“The Secretary of Education’s job is to lift up our public schools, not tear them down. Today I’m leading a coalition of six other states to fight DeVos in court and give a voice to our public schools.” The CARES Act was adopted by Congress and signed into law in late March. Among many other things, it allocates $30.75 billion for K-12 schools and higher education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A portion – approximately $13.2 billion – is distributed to State Education Agencies (SEAs), such as the Michigan Department of Education, which gets nearly $390 million. SEAs then allocate that money to LEAs, which then distribute money to individual schools.
Nessel said the CARES Act money is designed to provide support to schools with low-income students,
“On April 30, the secretary created a formula to distribute CARES Act funds inconsistent with the CARES Act and in a way that, in Michigan, would have diverted $16 million from public schools to nonpublic schools,” said State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice.
“Recently, the secretary manufactured a choice of formulas for local school districts to distribute CARES Act funds, a choice that doesn’t exist in the CARES Act, and one which could have the same effect – to divert $16 million from public schools to nonpublic schools. This is unacceptable, particularly in the midst of a pandemic and given a significant decline in state revenue.”
Joining Nessel and Caloifornia AG Xavier Becerra on behalf of their states in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of the District of Columbia, Maine, New Mexico and Wisconsin.