New York is among 24 states and the District of Columbia — all led by Democrats — suing the Trump administration for “illegally” freezing nearly $7 billion in education funds affecting after-school care and summer programs for children, teaching English to children who are non-native speakers, and programs to recruit and train teachers in low-income areas, among others.
“This illegal and unjustified funding freeze will be devastating for students and families nationwide, especially for those who rely on these programs for childcare and to learn English,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement Monday announcing the lawsuit regarding the freeze imposed by the U.S. Department of Education.
“Congress allocated these funds, and the law requires that they be delivered,” James said. “We will not allow this administration to rewrite the rules to punish the communities it doesn’t like.”
James said the coalition of attorneys general and governors argues that the funding freeze violates the Constitution and federal law, adding that “the administration offered no reasoned explanation for a drastic policy reversal and failed to consider states’ reliance on long-established funding processes.”
The money was supposed to be distributed July 1, but then the department announced the freeze.
According to a notice The Associated Press obtained earlier this month, the administration’s Education Department said the money would not be released while a review was underway of the programs. “The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities,” the AP reported the notice said.
James said, in a statement, that the funding freeze affects six programs, including The Migrant Education Program, as well as a series of programs under Title II-A, Title III-A, Title IV-A and Title IV-B of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act that support the recruitment, training and retention of teachers and school leaders in low-income communities; help English language learners and immigrant students to attain proficiency; and provide school-based mental health care, STEM education, career guidance, after-school and summer programs, and adult education grants to help build literacy and job-readiness skills.
James said more than $463 million in funding for the 2025-2026 school year has been frozen in New York, which she said was 13% of the state’s total K-12 education funding.
“The New York State Education Department (NYSED) estimates at least 65,000 low-income New York students could lose access to after-school or summer enrichment programs and 80,000 New Yorkers could be cut off from adult education and literacy services. In New York City, where 44 percent of public school students speak a language other than English at home, this freeze threatens essential English language instruction and literacy services.” James continued, “At the state level, the frozen funds cover the salaries and benefits of 67 full time employees. If the funding freeze continues, NYSED would be forced to conduct ‘large scale and unplanned layoffs.’ ”
Long Island educators were concerned about the freeze, Newsday has reported.
Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, told Newsday earlier this month: “Obviously, any withholding of funds for grants that were already in process is highly unusual and unwelcomed and would impact districts that rely on federal funding the most.”
It was unclear if any Long Island school districts have shuttered summer programs as a result of the funding freeze. Vecchio said Monday that he was not aware of any district that had canceled summer programs. Officials of the superintendent associations in Nassau and Suffolk counties could not be immediately reached Monday.
Besides New York, the other attorneys general filing the lawsuit are from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
