Source Link
Excerpt:
The state of California has agreed to allow families to use public special education funds for tuition at religious schools, following a legal settlement reached after years of litigation.
The decision marks a significant policy change and aligns the state’s regulations with recent federal court rulings affirming religious rights under the First Amendment.
The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Orthodox Jewish families who challenged the state’s long-standing rule that barred the use of publicly funded special education services at religious institutions. Plaintiffs argued that the policy, which required private schools receiving such funding to be nonsectarian, unfairly excluded religious families and violated their constitutional rights.
In the case of Loffman v. California Department of Education, a group of Jewish parents and religious schools challenged the exclusion, arguing that it violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination.
