Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration to force it to restore billions in education funding that the federal government abruptly froze last month.
Chalkbeat reports that the June 30 funding freeze held up nearly $7 billion that Congress already had allocated and which schools nationwide were counting on.
The money was earmarked for teacher training, support for English learners and the children of migrant farmworkers, after-school and summer programming, literacy initiatives, and enrichment programs focused on STEM education, college and career counseling, and the arts, among other things.
School district leaders around the country say that the funding freeze they may force them to cancel afterschool programming and lay off staff.
“It is impossible for states to effectively budget for an upcoming school year through our departments of education to our local communities when the president takes the football away from us,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, contends that the funding freeze violates the Constitution and federal laws. The plaintiffs argue that the administration did not follow rules that govern when the executive branch can refuse to spend money allocated by Congress.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the funding freeze “illegal and unjustified” and said the consequences for students and families would be “devastating.”
The lawsuit seeks the immediate restoration of funding only in the states that joined the lawsuit. Those include California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, among others.
The Office of Management and Budget previously has said it is conducting a review to ensure education funding aligns with “the president’s priorities.” A spokesperson also said, without providing evidence, that initial findings “have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda.”
