A group of 16 Democratic state attorneys general and a governor sued the Trump administration on April 10, attempting to stop it from ending more than $1.1 billion in funding meant to address the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on K–12 students.
The states suing said they had planned on the funding and are now dealing with major budget shortfalls because of the agency’s policy change, the lawsuit states.
They said the funding was earmarked for facility upgrades, offering tutoring to students who fell behind during the COVID-19 pandemic, and feeding homeless students.
“The Trump administration’s latest attack on our schools will hurt our most vulnerable students and make it harder for them to thrive,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was one of the plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit. “Cutting school systems’ access to vital resources that our students and teachers rely on is outrageous and illegal.”
She was joined by attorneys general from states including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was an additional plaintiff.
The group alleges that the Trump administration’s reversal on allowing access to the funds violated procedures necessary by the Administrative Procedures Act. They are asking the court to issue an order vacating the Education Department’s termination of funds and reinstating its previous policy, allowing the states to access the funds through March of next year.
In a statement provided to The Epoch Times, the Education Department said, “COVID is over.”
“States and school districts can no longer claim they are spending their emergency pandemic funds on ‘COVID relief’ when there are numerous documented examples of abuse and misuse,” the department said.
“The Department established a process to consider funding extension requests on a project-specific basis where it can be demonstrated that funds are being used directly [to] mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on student learning. If the states suing were using these funds to remediate learning loss and support students, there would be no need for this lawsuit.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a plaintiff in Thursday’s lawsuit, accused Trump of “throwing our schools into turmoil and jeopardizing the academic success of a generation of American children” by moving to dismantle the Education Department.
Numerous groups have filed lawsuits challenging the administration’s sweeping cuts, arguing it is revoking congressionally appropriated contracts and grants without first getting input from the legislative branch.
