Pasadena School District Joins Suit Challenging Federal Rule on Distribution of Coronavirus Aid

The Pasadena Unified School District has joined a lawsuit filed Wednesday challenging a new U.S. Department of Education rule that they say will divert vitally needed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding away from public schools and toward private ones.

The district is joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, other districts and parents of students around the country.

NAACP v. DeVos seeks to reverse a rule put forward by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos earlier this month that alters the way funds must be distributed to schools under the CARES Act, the organization said in a written statement. It’s joined in the litigation by school districts including the PUSD. Several state attorneys general have filed similar suits.

“Under the rule, school districts must divert more funding for ‘equitable services’ to private school students than the law requires or face onerous restrictions on the use of those funds in their public schools,” according to the statement. “Both options violate the clear language and intent of the CARES Act and will undermine district efforts to adequately serve students who desperately need services and support due to the impacts of the pandemic.”

The rule provides the school district with two options to distribute the funds, but neither is acceptable, PUSD Board of Education Member Scott Phelps said

It mandates that districts set aside a portion of the CARES funding equal to the percentage of students living in the districts who attend private schools, Phelps said. More than 30 percent of students living within the PUSD’s area attend private schools.

“As I understand it, estimated allocation to PUSD is about $15 million,” he said. “So 30 percent to 40 percent would be $5 million to $6 million.”

“It would be a significant amount,” Phelps said. “Right now, we’re negotiating the cost of online curriculum with various online curriculum providers. And it’s pretty pricey.”

The rule provides for a second option for school districts, which Phelps said contains “a poison pill.”

Districts may set aside a portion of the CARES Act Funding for private schools equal to the participating private schools’ proportion of low-income students, which in the case of the private schools within PUSD, is about 2 percent, he said.

But under that scenario, districts are barred from using the remaining funds for any campuses that are not designated Title I, denoting a low-income student population of 40 percent or greater, according to Phelps and the NAACP.

Since PUSD has five schools that don’t qualify under Title I, those campuses would be forbidden from receiving any of the CARES Act funding, according to Phelps.

“We think it’s in our best interest to join this complaint and try to get an injunction, he said.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said the Department of Education was “robbing” public schools of money in order to divert the funds to private schools.

“This is a new low, even for an administration intent on promoting inequality in education,” he said. “Children and families across the nation are facing unprecedented risks to their safety and educational opportunities. COVID-19 has magnified the hardships for children from low-income households and diminished access to quality instruction, digital technology, nutrition, social development, and other vital resources. These are consequences that will last a lifetime.”

The plaintiffs are being represented pro bono by the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP as well as the Education Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center.