Second Federal Judge Slams DeVos Plan To Send Federal Funds To Private Schools - Forbes

send.indah.link

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 07: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos participates in an event hosted by U.S. ... [+] President Donald Trump with students, teachers and administrators about how to safely re-open schools during the novel coronavirus pandemic in the East Room at the White House July 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. As the number of COVID-19 cases surge across southern states like Florida, Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arizona, Trump joined with guests from across the country to discuss how to responsibly return to the classroom. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Getty Images

If it seems as if we just did this, that’s because it has only been a week since U.S. District Court Judge Barbara J. Rothstein ruled in Washington state that the DeVos plan to send additional CARES money to private schools was an attempt to thwart “Congress’s obvious intent.”

On Thursday, a U.S. District judge in San Francisco ruled that the Department of Education used “interpretive jiggery pokery” to make its case, and placed a preliminary junction against the rule.

The department has argued that CARES Act relief money should be sent to private schools based on their total enrollment, not, as Congress directed, on the number of students from low-income families (thereby directing millions of dollars away from public schools). Judge James Donato (an Obama appointee confirmed with a 90-5 vote) was unimpressed by their argument.

Recommended For You

The department’s argument hinges on the notion that certain portions of the CARES Act are “ambiguous,” suggesting phrases such as “in the same manner” require clarification and interpretation. The Act directs aid to students from low-income families, but, says the department, the pandemic affects everybody; hence, ambiguity. As a long-time English teacher, I’d argue that the department’s arguments are disingenuous and silly. Donato agrees.

“When construing a statute,” writes Donato, “a virtuoso feat of analysis is neither required nor particularly useful.” Noting that the words Congress used in the CARES Act “are familiar and uncomplicated, to say the least,” Donato goes on to note the dictionary definitions of “same” and “manner,” concluding that Congress’s intent is “plain as day.” He quotes Justice Scalia in noting that it is hard to imagine how anyone could maintain with a straight face that the law is unclear.

As Rothstein did, Donato notes that the department had no legal right to “interpret” the law that Congress wrote. “An executive agency like the department has no authority to rewrite Congress’s plain and unambiguous commands under the guise of interpretation.”

This ruling puts a halt to implementation of the department’s rule in eight states, plus DC and four big city school districts; states affected are California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, Betsy DeVos’s home state.

The Link Lonk


August 29, 2020 at 08:53PM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/29/second-federal-judge-slams-devos-plan-to-send-federal-funds-to-private-schools/

Second Federal Judge Slams DeVos Plan To Send Federal Funds To Private Schools - Forbes

https://news.google.com/search?q=Send&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en