DeVos blocked

Education groups, teachers unions, civil rights organizations and some GOP education officials have expressed concerns about the administration’s approach to distributing the pandemic assistance.

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At issue in the cases is how school districts must share their coronavirus relief funding with private schools to provide “equitable services” such as technology, tutoring or transportation for those students.

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[A new] court ruling blocks [Secretary of Education Betsy] DeVos from implementing or enforcing her rule in at least eight states and some of the nation’s largest public school districts. The secretary's policy requires public school districts to send a greater share of their CARES Act, H.R. 748 (116), pandemic assistance funding to private school students than is typically required under federal law.

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Public school officials argue the emergency funding should be shared with private schools under the typical federal formula, which is based on the number of low-income students at private schools. But DeVos’ [policy] says school districts must set aside money for private school students, based on total enrollment, irrespective of income.

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The Trump administration argues that it has the authority to create policy dictating public distribution of the funding to private school students because the CARES Act is ambiguous on that point. But [...] two judges disagree.

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U.S. District Judge James Donato’s order prevents DeVos from carrying out her policy in a large swath of the country: Michigan, California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia as well as for public school districts in New York City, Chicago, Cleveland and San Francisco.

Last week a federal judge in Washington state similarly blocked DeVos’ rule, but there has been a dispute about whether that order applies nationwide. DeVos separately on Wednesday evening sought clarification from that judge about the order.

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Donato ruled that DeVos’ policy is likely to be struck down because she lacks the legal authority to impose her own conditions on coronavirus relief funding for K-12 schools. He wrote in the 15-page decision that “allowing the Department to rewrite the statutory formula for sharing education funds is manifestly not in the public interest.”

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The judge also said the coronavirus relief law “unambiguously” instructs the funding to be distributed to private school students in the typical manner under federal law, based on the number of low-income students.

  Politico

DeVos is part of the administration that's above the law.  She didn't think it applied to her.