Columbus, OH – On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute once again joined a coalition of nationally recognized policy and education groups in filing an amicus brief in support of the U.S. Department of Education’s guidance to distribute CARES Act funding in a fair and equitable manner that will help all schools safely reopen. This newest brief was filed in Washington v. DeVos.

“As with Michigan, the state of Washington has decided to try to circumvent the clear language of the CARES Act, that says local school districts must provide ‘equitable services’ to ‘students and teachers in non-public schools,’” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute’s Legal Center. “The U.S. Department of Education’s guidance is clearly consistent with the law and these lawsuits are doing nothing to safely reopen our schools and get our children safely back into the classroom.”

As with Michigan v. DeVos, several states and public school districts filed suit to challenge the U.S. Department of Education’s commonsense rule, claiming that taxpayer-funded assistance should not be allocated to provide “equitable services” to “students and teachers in non-public schools” as called for in the CARES Act.

The brief was filed with the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on August 6, 2020. As with the brief filed in Michigan v. DeVos, the coalition was led by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

# # #

UPDATE: August 21, 2020, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granted the state of Washington’s request for a preliminary injunction.