LA Jewish Schools, Parents File Lawsuit Against CA, LAUSD Over Exclusion from Special Ed Funding

Three sets of Los Angeles-based parents of students with special needs as well as two Los Angeles Jewish schools are suing the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) over being excluded from special education funding.

The two schools listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Shalhevet High School and Yavneh Hebrew Academy; the parents are Chaya and Yoni Loffman, Fedora Nick and Morris Taxon, and Sarah and Ariel Perets, all of whom are Orthodox Jews. The lawsuit, filed on March 13, noted that the federal law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides funding for special education and other disabilities services to the states, but California only provides such funding to secular private schools, not religious schools. “Since parents often cannot afford to pay for disability services themselves, California forces them to choose between accessing those services and giving their children a Jewish education,” the lawsuit stated. The lawsuit names the state Department of Education and LAUSD as defendants since they’re the ones responsible for distributing special education funding.

Additionally, the lawsuit noted that in June, the Supreme Court struck down a Maine law that barred public funds from going to religious schools and argued that the same precedent would apply toward their lawsuit as well.

“It takes a special kind of chutzpah to deny Jewish kids with disabilities equal access to special education benefits,” Eric Rassbach, Vice President and Senior Counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “California politicians can end this unlawful discrimination the easy way or the hard way. Either they change the law that is hurting children with disabilities, or they can shamefully fight in court for the right to discriminate. California’s elected officials should want to help the most vulnerable members of our society, not hurt them. There is no reason to stand by this outmoded law instead of giving kids with disabilities equal access to benefits.”

A spokesperson for the state Department of Education told the Journal that they have not yet been served a lawsuit and thus cannot comment on it. An LAUSD spokesperson told the Journal that the district doesn’t comment on pending or ongoing litigation.