Loyal Outlook readers will remember that in 2019, CAPE signed onto an amicus brief on the landmark Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue case. That amicus was the only amicus brief referenced by a Supreme Court justice during Espinoza’s oral arguments. The Espinoza ruling ultimately proved to be one of the most important education decisions in decades.

A new case out of Maine is in many ways something of a sequel to Espinoza. Carson v. Makin was brought by students and parents challenging their exclusion from the Maine “town tuitioning program.” In Maine, 143 of the state’s 260 school districts do not operate their own high schools. Such school districts may under state law arrange for another school to teach all of their students, or these school districts may provide tuition payments to allow families to go to the public school or private school of their choice. The state, however, forbids students in the program from attending religious schools.

Parents were permitted to choose religious schools from 1903 until 1982, when the law was changed by the state legislature.

In October 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decided against the Maine families wishing to choose a religious school, effectively ruling that while Espinoza forbids a state from discriminating against a religious school because of its status as a religious school, a state is still allowed to discriminate against a religious school based on the religious use to which a student’s aid might be put at the school.

As explained by the Institute for Justice, the "federal appeals court ruled that participating schools can be religious in name, but if they do religious things, a parent cannot select that school under Maine’s program."

CAPE has signed a new amicus asking the US Supreme Court to take up the Maine case, arguing that contrary to the circuit court's decision, the Maine statute violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise clause. You can read it here.

The Biden Administration has announced its intention to prioritize the vaccination of teachers and has released a fact sheet with information on how teachers can access the vaccine. You can view that information here.

Meanwhile, on February 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new COVID-19 guidance for schools, saying "access to vaccination should not be considered a condition for reopening schools for in-person instruction." The guidance also included recommendations for phased reopening based on rates of community transmission according to a scheme of color-coded zones, which met with strong opposition from the governor of Florida among others.

Miguel Cardona was sworn in as secretary of education on March 2 after being confirmed by the US Senate 64-33. More information about the secretary, who previously served as the Commissioner of Education in Connecticut, can be found at the Department of Education's webpage.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education has announced what it is calling "the largest representative and highest-quality effort yet to gather vital data on the impact of COVID-19 on students and the status of in-person learning."

According to a Department of Education press release, data gathered in the survey will include:

"The survey will collect data from approximately 3,500 schools that enroll fourth-graders and an equal number of schools that enroll eighth-graders. The public will have access to the highest-quality data about school reopenings for in-person instruction and how students are learning. Results will be collected monthly beginning this month and running through June, and key findings will be reported."

The Department of Education has released the first volume of its COVID-19 Handbook, designed to help schools implement the aforementioned CDC guidance. You can read it here.