The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) recently reported that it is collaborating on a mission to ensure that federal CARES Act funding is available to all students, not only those in public schools. 

In opposition, Michigan’s governor, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction have joined with the California attorney general to seek to prevent $16.5 million from reaching nonpublic schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MCC is taking up the legal battle by joining a number of organizations that are petitioning for the fair distribution of the CARES funding. 

MCC President and CEO Paul Long explained his organization’s involvement in the matter in a news release on the group's website. 

Paul Long | https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/

“We’ve previously stated that the lawsuit filed by the Governor and Attorney General seeks to allow them to engage in discriminatory policy-making,” Long said. “Today we have joined 37 other organizations in court to ask for all students to be treated equally, as was the intent of congress.”

The legal brief that is now being supported by MCC states that the private school system is an important part of education in this nation and that the coronavirus shutdown has impacted all schools indiscriminately, 

“The pandemic significantly impacted all K–12 schools and the CARES Act was intended to help schools, both public and private, continue to serve students,” the legal brief states. “The department’s rule is a continuation of that intent and commitment to ensuring that all families can access the school of their choice, and is a correct and appropriate implementation of the underlying requirements of the CARES Act.”

Long stated that the attempts by the governor and attorney general to withhold the funding from private schools is discriminatory and that it would be to the “detriment of over 100,000 school children and their families,” while calling for the unfair treatment of the disbursement of funds to stop.