California Loses Bid to Exclude Religious Schools from Serving the Disabled

Photo credit: Becket Law

In a 3-0 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that California is violating the law by discriminating against religious parents and children in special-education programs.
 
That this ruling was needed at all in Loffman v. California Department of Education is remarkable. From Maine to California, states keep trying to isolate and defund private schools that are religious in character. Federal appellate courts have been consistent in laying down the law in upholding the First Amendment’s protection of “free exercise of religion.”
 
California, which channels funds from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), allows children with disabilities to receive a free appropriate education that meets their needs. The California Legislature, however, added a condition – that special education program funds could not be distributed to schools that also have a religious character. This precluded Jewish parents from choosing an Orthodox Jewish school for their disabled children.
 
California has the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that is unlikely to be successful. All of the precedents cited by Judges Kim Wardlaw, Morgan Christen, and Mark Bennett cited Supreme Court precedents that supported their ruling that California’s “nonsectarian requirement fails the neutrality test” in the treatment of religious schools.
 
“Today’s ruling is a tremendous victory for the Becket law firm, which stood by these Jewish parents through a long and difficult case,” said Gene Schaerr, general counsel of Protect The 1st. “This victory is also one more sign, if any were needed, that the First Amendment requires the neutral and fair treatment of religious schools. Equitable treatment of religious schools is the law of the land. It is long past time for some states to end their campaign of resistance to this clear application of constitutional principle.”
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