Print

Yesterday, 8/10/23, a district court judge held against us in our case to strike down California’s discriminatory law that excludes religious schools from becoming state-certified special needs schools. The rule has prevented the Los Angeles Jewish community from getting government funding to build the kind of special needs infrastructure our kids deserve: one that allows them to get the education and services they need without giving up on being in a Jewish school.

The loss was, to be honest, expected. For those of you at oral argument, you heard the judge express numerous times that she wasn’t on board with our case—that she thought we were trying to take the law too far. But what was unexpected is that she held that some of our plaintiffs have legal standing to push this case further. Ultimately, even she could not turn a blind eye to the way the current system harms some of our families; how being forced to stay in a public-school special needs program has “slowed [the] progress” of one plaintiff’s child, forcing him to have “absences during religious holidays” and kept him in a program where “the school regularly gives him non-kosher food.” Those harms are real and are the result of a law that says you can’t have religious special needs schools in California. And ultimately, because some of our plaintiffs—even in the eyes of a less-than-sympathetic judge—have legal standing, the lawsuit can move forward swiftly on appeal.

And move swiftly to appeal we will. We anticipate taking this case to the federal court of appeals of the Ninth Circuit. There we will argue that the district judge’s conclusion that the discriminatory law doesn’t violate the First Amendment is simply out of step with recent Supreme Court cases. Getting lower courts and legislatures to understand where the law is now—and not rely on where the law was one or two decades ago—is precisely why this case is so important. Ten years ago, states thought they had a right and obligation to exclude religious schools from government funding programs; now the Supreme Court has made clear that’s religious discrimination. So, you can’t say things like ‘the government can contract with the schools it prefers’; and you also can’t say ‘the government is only contracting with secular schools that are like public schools.’ Discrimination by another name is still discrimination.

—————————————————–end of update. BELOW IS START OF STORY

BREAKING: Jewish parents & schools sue California to stop it from punishing children with disabilities California politicians in court for denying Jewish families & schools equal access to special education funding

Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to help parents and their children with disabilities obtain equal educational opportunities as their non-disabled peers. IDEA provides federal funding for special education programs in schools across the country to make that possible. California also provides parallel state-level special education funding to support students with disabilities.

In California, parents may access special education funds to help send their children with disabilities to nonreligious private schools that will best serve their individual needs. But state law explicitly bans parents from using that money to send their children to religious schools, even when those are the schools best able to meet their children’s needs. California politicians are thus punishing religious parents, their children, and religious schools who would gladly accept students with disabilities, simply because the schools that would best meet these children’s needs are religious

On March 13, 2023, Becket filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to ensure that religious parents can make sure their children with disabilities receive an education that is right for them and that religious schools are able to receive the critical support needed to educate students with disabilities. 

On Friday, July 21st Becket made opening remarks in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
About 100 members of the community made a rally across from the courthouse and then they all went over to the courthouse and watched the beginning of case with Becket law firm’s opening remarks.  

Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn, Dean of Yavneh Hebrew Academy

Rabbi Yoel Burstyn, Menahel of Bais Yaakov of LA

Religious children with disabilities left behind by California politicians 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law ensuring that all children with disabilities in America can receive an education that is right for them. To accomplish this, IDEA provides grants to states in exchange for a free and appropriate public education that is tailored to each child’s unique needs. These grants pay for essential resources like assistive technology, staff training, special education programs, and other services. Like other states, California supplements federal IDEA funding with state special education funding. 

IDEA also provides for students to be placed in private schools that can meet their needs when public schools cannot offer a free and appropriate education. In California, however, legislators have excluded religious parents and schools from accessing federal and state special education funding and services. Even though private non-religious schools are eligible under California law, and even though a recent poll shows that only around a quarter of Californians think that the state’s public schools are doing a good job of helping children with disabilities, parents are unable to send their children to religious schools that will meet their needs.  

Additionally, religious schools are unable to receive the support necessary to fully welcome all students with disabilities into their communities. This leaves many religious families in California without the ability to give their children an education that is best for them. It also disproportionately affects lower-income families, as children from low-income households are more likely to have a disability than children living above the poverty line.  

The law protects children with disabilities from discrimination by Sacramento politicians 

California politicians cannot deny children with disabilities the safe and supportive learning environments they deserve because they are religious, nor can they exclude schools from participating in the program simply because they are religious. Parents of children with disabilities already face complex challenges in finding the right school for their children, and California is making it even more challenging for religious parents.  

As the Supreme Court has consistently and recently affirmed, public benefits that are open to private secular organizations must also be open to religious ones. Denying religious parents of children with disabilities the opportunity to send their children to religious schools clearly violates the law and must end. It also goes against what the state’s residents believe—according to a recent poll, nearly 60% of Californians think that children with disabilities should be able to use federal and state funding to go to religious schools, but the state’s elected representatives are making that impossible. 

The Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, representing nearly 1,000 congregations as well as more than 400 Jewish non-public K-12 schools across the United States, is supporting Becket’s effort to protect religious parents, their children and religious schools’ right to access special education funding in the state of California.  

Importance to Religious Liberty: 

Education: Religious schools should be able to participate in publicly available programs without discrimination, and religious school students should be able to participate in these programs on equal footing as students who attend non-religious schools.