New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, 21 other attorneys general and the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky on July 14 sued the Trump Administration for freezing about $7 billion in education funding. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
The lawsuit names as defendants Linda McMahon in her official capacity as Secretary of Education; the U.S. Department of Education; Russell Vought in his official capacity as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget; the U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Donald J. Trump in his official capacity as President of the United States; and the United States of America.
The complaint said that on June 30, the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) abruptly halted funds appropriated by Congress for six longstanding education programs. The lawsuit explained that the programs for which funding was stopped provide after-school care for children of working parents, teach English to children who are non-native speakers, recruit and train teachers, expand STEM and arts curricula, and provide bullying and suicide prevention services in schools.
Tong said that Connecticut is losing more than $53 million.
“Trump and Linda McMahon are stealing from Connecticut schools to fund tax cuts for billionaires, and its our kids and our teachers who are paying the price,” Tong said. “We are talking about over $53 million already built into local school budgets in nearly every district in Connecticut for computers and technology, after-school enrichment and field trips, social workers, English language instruction, teacher training, adult education and more. We stopped Trump when he tried to defund Head Start, when he tried to defund disaster relief and energy assistance, when he tried to defund our police, cancer research, and our libraries. We are back in court yet again to make sure our schools and our kids get every penny that our tax dollars paid for.”
The lawsuit asks the court to order the Trump Administration to stop its freezing of the funds and release the money to be spent as Congress mandated.
“The federal government cannot use our children’s classrooms to advance its assault on immigrant and working families,” James said. “This illegal and unjustified funding freeze will be devastating for students and families nationwide.”
Congress has required that the money be distributed to states by July 1 to ensure schools receive resources ahead of the new academic year. On June 30, the Department of Education sent out a brief email saying the money would not be coming so that it could do a review to determine whether the funds align with President Trump’s priorities.
OMB then made claims that the funding had been used to “subsidize a radical leftwing agenda,” specifically accusing New York of using federal education funds to “promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations.” James said that claim is patently false. OMB also raised objections to the use of funds for scholarships for immigrant students and lessons on LGBTQ+ topics.
James said that in New York, more than $463 million in funding for the new school year has been frozen, representing 13 % of the state’s total K-12 education funding. This includes more than $125 million for teacher training and development, $107 million to create safe and effective learning environments for New York students, $102 million for after-school and summer programs, $65 million to fund English learning and literacy initiatives, $10 million to support migrant students, and $52 million in adult literacy funding. James says that the 730 school districts across New York, which are now scrambling to address the budget shortfall.
The lawsuit argues that freeze violates the Constitution’s spending clause and separation of powers principle. It says the Trump Administration has disregarded Congress’ sole power of the purse and exceeded its authority by attempting to conduct a discretionary “review” of programs established, funded, and regulated by Congress. In addition, the Impoundment Control Act prohibits the executive branch from unilaterally refusing to spend appropriated funds unless specific procedures are followed and the lawsuit alleges those procedures were not followed.
James notes that federal courts have repeatedly struck down similar attempts by the Trump Administration that targeted various educational and health initiatives.
Attorney General James and the coalition are seeking a preliminary injunction covering all plaintiff states and are asking for a “writ of mandamus” to compel the distribution of the funds that Congress appropriated for school systems.
In addition to James and Tong, the lawsuit was filed by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky.
