Show notes
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is forced to abandon her policy to shuttle more funding to private schools with COVID-19 relief funds. The U.S. Senate can’t quite muster the votes for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) COVID-19 legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the first federal legislation on school integration in more than thirty years.
Federal Judge Rules Against Secretary Devos
Ever since Secretary of Education DeVos took office, she has been focused on finding ways to fund private schools with federal dollars, with little success. That streak continued as a federal district court judge sided with the NAACP against the Secretary’s equitable services rule and found she had no authority to impose conditions on funding provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, legislation passed by Congress to respond to the coronavirus.
Our viewers may recall that Devos’s equitable services rule had been halted temporarily in several states after two judges issued preliminary injunctions. The latest ruling applies nationwide and, as a result, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) regulation is no longer in effect. The DeVos rule would have pushed school districts to spend a larger share of CARES Act funds on private schools than they do under Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). School districts would have had two options for how to distribute CARES Act funds, but if they wanted to follow the same policy as under ESSA—instead of DeVos’s preferred method—they would have faced additional restrictions.
COVID-19 Relief Bill Stalls in Senate
Schools are reopening but without any additional assistance from Washington, DC. Bipartisan negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House on the next COVID-19 relief package came to a halt in August and have yet to resume. Last week, Senate Majority Leader McConnell proposed a slimmed-down version of the $1 trillion Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS ) Act, the proposal advanced by Republican leaders back in July that failed to gain support from the White House or even McConnell’s own caucus.
McConnell’s new proposal, the Delivering Immediate Relief to America’s Families, Schools, and Small Business Act, costs about half as much as the original HEALS Act. By lowering the price tag to about $500 billion, McConnell was able to secure the support of his Republican colleagues. Democrats, on the other hand, balked at the proposal. While some called the bill “skinny,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “emaciated.”
One thing Senate Republicans’ COVID-19 relief bill is not slim on, however, is support for private schools. The bill requires states to set aside funds for private school scholarships; creates a new tax credit for people or businesses that donate to these scholarship funds; and expands the uses of 529 plans for homeschooling and for a wide range of other uses related to public, private, or religious schools, including books, tutoring, and dual enrollment.
Overall, the legislation provides $70 billion for elementary and secondary education; however, after funds are set aside to fund the private school scholarships, two-thirds of the remaining funds are dependent on district plans to reopen schools for in-person instruction.
After the bill failed to garner the sixty votes needed to pass the Senate, chances for any COVID-19 relief legislation are in jeopardy with members of Congress anxious to leave town and campaign heading into the election. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she will keep the House in session until they pass a coronavirus relief bill.
Federal Judge Rules Against Secretary Devos
Ever since Secretary of Education DeVos took office, she has been focused on finding ways to fund private schools with federal dollars, with little success. That streak continued as a federal district court judge sided with the NAACP against the Secretary’s equitable services rule and found she had no authority to impose conditions on funding provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, legislation passed by Congress to respond to the coronavirus.
Our viewers may recall that Devos’s equitable services rule had been halted temporarily in several states after two judges issued preliminary injunctions. The latest ruling applies nationwide and, as a result, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) regulation is no longer in effect. The DeVos rule would have pushed school districts to spend a larger share of CARES Act funds on private schools than they do under Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). School districts would have had two options for how to distribute CARES Act funds, but if they wanted to follow the same policy as under ESSA—instead of DeVos’s preferred method—they would have faced additional restrictions.
COVID-19 Relief Bill Stalls in Senate
Schools are reopening but without any additional assistance from Washington, DC. Bipartisan negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House on the next COVID-19 relief package came to a halt in August and have yet to resume. Last week, Senate Majority Leader McConnell proposed a slimmed-down version of the $1 trillion Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS ) Act, the proposal advanced by Republican leaders back in July that failed to gain support from the White House or even McConnell’s own caucus.
McConnell’s new proposal, the Delivering Immediate Relief to America’s Families, Schools, and Small Business Act, costs about half as much as the original HEALS Act. By lowering the price tag to about $500 billion, McConnell was able to secure the support of his Republican colleagues. Democrats, on the other hand, balked at the proposal. While some called the bill “skinny,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “emaciated.”
One thing Senate Republicans’ COVID-19 relief bill is not slim on, however, is support for private schools. The bill requires states to set aside funds for private school scholarships; creates a new tax credit for people or businesses that donate to these scholarship funds; and expands the uses of 529 plans for homeschooling and for a wide range of other uses related to public, private, or religious schools, including books, tutoring, and dual enrollment.
Overall, the legislation provides $70 billion for elementary and secondary education; however, after funds are set aside to fund the private school scholarships, two-thirds of the remaining funds are dependent on district plans to reopen schools for in-person instruction.
After the bill failed to garner the sixty votes needed to pass the Senate, chances for any COVID-19 relief legislation are in jeopardy with members of Congress anxious to leave town and campaign heading into the election. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she will keep the House in session until they pass a coronavirus relief bill.