On Friday, another federal judge
ruled against the Department of Education's (ED) equitable services rule in a court hearing. This lawsuit was filed by NAACP on behalf of families with children enrolled in public schools in the following states: Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Mississippi, Washington D.C., and Alabama.
This court's ruling granted a nationwide termination of the rule. While other court rulings only applied to specific states, this ruling goes further in striking down the entire rule as illegal. For more information,
please see this POLITICO news report.
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ASBO USA
asbousa@asbointl.org------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-27-2020 08:25
From: Elleka Yost
Subject: Preliminary Injunction in Equitable Services Case
You are very welcome! We are happy to help.
We just received news yesterday evening that another federal judge in California ruled in a similar manner on another court case concerning ED's equitable services interim final rule with a preliminary injunction. ED now cannot implement or enforce its rule in the states of Michigan, California, Maine, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Hawaii, and D.C. The rule also cannot be enforced for public school districts in the following cities: New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Cleveland.
This ruling builds upon the injunction already placed in Washington state, but there still continues to be a dispute about whether these orders apply nationwide. ED Secretary DeVos has separately sought clarification about the order in WA to determine if that first court case applies only within the state.
More coverage on the second court ruling can be found here and here.
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Elleka Yost
Government Affairs & Communications Manager
ASBO International
eyost@asbointl.org
Ashburn
United States
Original Message:
Sent: 08-26-2020 17:11
From: Katie Johnson
Subject: Preliminary Injunction in Equitable Services Case
Thanks so much, Elleka! We really appreciate ASBO's help and guidance.
Best,
Katie
Katie E. Johnson
OASBO, Deputy Executive Director
O: 614.431.9116, ext. 110
C: 614.404.5277
Sent from my iPhone
Original Message:
Sent: 8/26/2020 4:35:00 PM
From: Elleka Yost
Subject: RE: Preliminary Injunction in Equitable Services Case
Hi Katie,
Unfortunately, this issue is as clear as mud right now in terms of whether the preliminary injunction applies only to WA state or not. However, the Department of Education (ED) has chosen to interpret the injunction in a narrow manner (i.e., applying only to WA schools), meaning ED could/would act to enforce the interim rule on CARES Act equitable services in other states.
Note there are still a few other court cases on this issue pending in other states, so we may see something more definitive emerge in due time, but we will have to wait and see. We are monitoring this issue very closely at ASBO and will certainly share any information here on the network as we learn more. In the meantime, we encourage members to continue to reach out to their elected officials and ensure this issue remains on their radar, especially since there is a possibility that Congress could provide a legislative fix to rescind ED's interim final rule in the next COVID relief package.
For more information about the preliminary injunction and other pending court cases on this issue, you may find this Education Week article helpful.
Sincerely,
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Elleka Yost
Government Affairs & Communications Manager
ASBO International
eyost@asbointl.org
Ashburn
United States
Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2020 16:36
From: Katie Johnson
Subject: Preliminary Injunction in Equitable Services Case
I am receiving conflicting information regarding the application of the DeVos preliminary injunction order. Can you please confirm how this impacts (if at all) the guidance given by the department of education in other states? Again, I have received conflicting advice regarding whether the district court case in Washington applies to other states, such as Ohio.
Katie E. Johnson, Esq.
Deputy Executive Director
Katie@oasbo-ohio.org
Ohio Association of School Business Officials
98 Commerce Park Drive | Westerville, Ohio 43082
O: 614-431-9116, ext. 110 | C: 614-404-5277 | Toll-free: 844-838-5395
www.oasbo-ohio.org
