Suit was filed yesterday in a California federal district court by six Jewish parents and two Orthodox Jewish day schools challenging the exclusion of sectarian schools from receiving funds made available to California under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The complaint (full text) in Loffman v. California Department of Education, (CD CA, filed 3/13/2023), alleges in part:
12. Defendants’ administration and implementation of California law excludes Plaintiffs from the generally available public funding necessary to provide an education to students with disabilities.
13. Plaintiffs merely seek to educate and care for children with disabilities and practice their Jewish faith on an equal basis with other California citizens.
14. As the Supreme Court recently held, they are entitled to equal treatment because “religious schools and the families whose children attend them . . . ‘are members of the community too.’” Espinoza v. Mont. Dep’t of Revenue, 140 S. Ct. 2246, 2262 (2020). Excluding Plaintiffs from government programs—for no other reason than the fact that they are religious—is “odious to our Constitution and cannot stand.”
Becket issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
