A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit this week filed by Orthodox Jewish families suing California education officials over the state's policy of denying funding for special education programs at religious schools.
Two religious schools and three Orthodox Jewish parents whose children have autism filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District last year. Parents want to send their children to Orthodox Jewish schools and say the government's ban on funding religious institutions was discriminatory.
Some states allow certain private religious schools to receive special education funding. For decades in California, those dollars have only been allowed to go to non-denominational schools.
Judge Kim Wardlaw, writing for the panel, ruled that California's requirement burdens families with free exercise of religion. The panel's ruling sends the case back for reconsideration in the federal court that previously dismissed it.
Attorney Eric Rassbach, who is representing the families in the case, called the court's decision “a huge victory for Jewish families in California.”
“It was always wrong to cut off Jewish children from receiving disability benefits because they wanted to follow their faith. “The court did the right thing by issuing a decision against discrimination against bald Californians,” he said in a statement.
The California Department of Education argued in legal papers that by not authorizing religious schools to educate children with disabilities, which would be necessary to receive state funding, it was upholding “the principle that government must be neutral between and among religions.”
The California Department of Education declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Special education funding can be directed to a private school if the local school board determines, on an individual basis, that it would be the best way for a particular student with a disability to receive an education, the department wrote in court papers.
Attorneys for the California Department of Education wrote in court papers that the disobedience requirement is necessary because without it, district officials would use too much power to direct students to religious institutions of their choice.
“This is against the government's neutrality in religion as required by the Constitution…” wrote the department's lawyers.
However, in his ruling, Wardlaw wrote that the state failed to show that its nondenominational requirement was “designed to further” the interest of religious neutrality.
Wardlaw added that it puts parents in a situation where they are forced to choose between their disabled children's education and religion.
“Plaintiffs who are parents are required to choose between the special education benefits available through public school enrollment (and subsequent transfer to a private, non-sectarian NPS) and education in an Orthodox Jewish community,” he wrote.
A US district judge last year dismissed the case and denied a request to block the state from enforcing the law.
Wardlaw upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss the applications of Shalhevet High School and Samuel A. Fryer Yavneh Hebrew Academy because neither school met the requirements necessary to be certified to teach students with special needs, according to the ruling.
The Teach Coalition, a group that helps secure federal funding for Jewish day schools, hailed the decision as a major victory for religious freedom.
“This is a game-changing moment for our community and faith-based families of children with disabilities — not only in need of change in the state of California but across the country,” Teach Coalition CEO and founder Maury Litwack said in a statement.
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