Democratic-led states sue to force Trump administration to unfreeze $7 billion in education funding

Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia sued Monday to restore nearly $7 billion in education funding paused by the Department of Education, accusing the Trump administration of thwarting the will of Congress and causing “chaos” in state educational programs.

The department temporarily halted $6.8 billion in grants last month under six programs, including those providing educational services for migrant workers, English learners and low-income students, pending a review of whether they align with the “President’s priorities.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the “federal government cannot use our children’s classrooms to advance its assault on immigrant and working families.”

“This illegal and unjustified funding freeze will be devastating for students and families nationwide, especially for those who rely on these programs for childcare or to learn English,” she said in a Monday statement. “Congress allocated these funds, and the law requires that they be delivered. We will not allow this administration to rewrite the rules to punish the communities it doesn’t like.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island was brought by Ms. James and 22 other Democratic attorneys general, as well as the Democratic governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

The attorneys general of Kentucky and Pennsylvania are Republicans.

The motion said state officials were blindsided when the Department of Education notified them of the review in an email dated June 30, a day before the grant funding was scheduled to be dispersed.

New York was forced to shutter some summer-school programs in response to the freeze, which paused $463 million, or 13% of the state’s total K-12 annual education funding.

“If the funding freeze continues, NYSED [New York State Education Department] would be forced to conduct ’large scale and unplanned layoffs,’ which would have damaging reverberations across the state workforce, as well as disastrous impacts for local school districts,” said the attorney general’s office.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget cited concerns that the grants were being used to push an ideological agenda, such as by promoting “illegal immigrant advocacy organizations” and “queer resistance in the arts.”

“Initial findings show that many of these grants programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda,” the spokesperson said in a statement to RealClearPolitics.

The lawsuit represents the latest refrain in what has become a familiar tune in the battle between Democrat-led states and the Trump administration over federal assistance.

The states have won a half-dozen injunctions against other federal departments seeking to freeze or withhold funding, including cases involving payments for public health and electric-vehicle infrastructure.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Department of Education’s funding freeze “blatantly illegal.”

“With no rhyme or reason, the Trump Administration abruptly froze billions of dollars in education funding just weeks before the start of the school year,” he said. “In doing so, it has threatened the existence of programs that provide critical after-school and summer learning opportunities, that teach English to students, and that provide educational technology to our classrooms.”

The pause placed a hold on $939 million in federal education funding for California needed to help school districts fund summer programs and fulfill financial obligations ahead of the 2025-26 academic year.

“Now, as a result of the Trump Administration’s actions, states find themselves without sufficient funding for these commitments, just weeks before the start of the 2025-2026 school year,” Mr. Bonta’s office said in a statement.

The six programs affected by the federal freeze are the Migrant Education Act; Title II-A; Title III-A; Title IV-A; Title IV-B, and Adult Education Grants.

The Washington Times has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.