CA agrees to stop excluding Jewish private schools from receiving funding for students with disabilities

Jewish parents in California have won a major victory after the state’s department of education agreed in federal court to halt its exclusion of Jewish private schools from receiving funding for students with disabilities. 

A group of Jewish parents sued the state in 2023 over its longtime prohibition on federal and state special education funding being used for religious private schools, although such funding is allowed at secular private schools. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California ruled in October 2024 against the state, finding it had unlawfully blocked funding for Jewish students and schools and ordering a resolution of the issue. 

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented the parents in Loffman v. California Department of Education. Because of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), children with disabilities should receive an education meeting their individual needs and receive funding provided for special education programs in public schools, the organization argued.  

“But public schools cannot always meet the needs of students with disabilities, so federal and state law allows some of this funding to be used at private schools that can provide this critical support,” Becket concluded. 

However, California’s Department of Education has long excluded religious schools from the available funding, “leaving religious parents with no opportunity to find a school that best meets their child’s unique needs,” the organization continued. “This has, unfortunately, forced many religious parents of special needs children to uproot their lives and move out of state to obtain the critical support they need for their children.” 

In the lawsuit, three sets of Jewish parents – led by Chaya and Yoni Loffman – had enrolled their children with disabilities in Shalhevet High School and Yavneh Hebrew Academy, two private Jewish schools that California barred from receiving IDEA funding. 

Becket Fund teamed up with Teach Coalition, a project of the Orthodox Union, to successfully challenge the exclusion and “ensure that these and countless other religious parents and schools can now receive equal access to special education funding.” 

Under the settlement terms, California’s Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District will discontinue their policy of excluding religious schools from IDEA funding. Meanwhile, parents of children with disabilities will be free to seek special education placements in religious schools. 

“California spent decades treating Jewish kids like second-class citizens,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Fund. “This settlement ensures Jewish kids with disabilities can access the resources they need and deserve.” 

Daniel Mitzner, a spokesman for Teach Coalition, also championed the ruling. 

“For too long, California has discriminated against children with disabilities simply because of their faith,” he said. “This settlement puts that injustice to an end and ensures that Orthodox Jewish families can access the same disability funding as everyone else.” 

Nearly 60% of Californians agreed “government should provide money for children with disabilities to attend whichever school is best equipped to serve each child, regardless of the school’s religious or secular identity,” according to a 2023 survey conducted by the Becket Fund.