President Donald Trump stands with Betsy DeVos
Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Monday she will allow religious groups to provide taxpayer-funded services in private schools, in a move education advocates called an affront to the separation of church and state.

Under federal law, private schools are granted “equitable-services provisions,” which entitle private schools to taxpayer-funded services provided to public schools, The Washington Post reported. The rules allow public school funds to go toward training private school teachers or even helping to staff classes. But the rules bar private schools from contracting religious groups for these purposes.

DeVos announced Monday that she will no longer enforce a rule prohibiting religious institutions from providing these taxpayer-funded services in private schools, claiming that the restriction runs counter to a recent Supreme Court decision that said “otherwise eligible recipients cannot be disqualified from a public benefit solely because of their religious character.”

DeVos cited the court’s ruling in favor of Missouri’s Trinity Lutheran Church, which ruled that the state discriminated against the church by […]