More than a dozen state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the abrupt end of coronavirus-related financial relief will make it difficult to provide students with much-needed resources.
According to The Hill, the lawsuit was filed earlier this week in the Manhattan-based U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In total, 16 attorneys general, as well as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, allege that the federal government acted unlawfully by withholding funds that were supposed to be accessible through March 2026.
The funding, approved by Congress under the Biden administration, was intended to help schools and students recover from the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The attorneys general emphasized that this funding provides “essential support for a wide range of critical education programs and services needed to address, among other things, the impact of lost instructional time; students’ academic, social, and emotional needs; the safety of school environments; and the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on economically disadvantaged students, including homeless children and children in foster care.”
The lawsuit notes that the revocation of the relief fund was unexpected, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon notifying states about the change with a letter. This letter, the attorneys general say, “triggered chaos” at schools across the country.
If a court does not rule against the Department of Education, they claim, states and students will likely suffer “irreparable harm.”
“If the recission is not vacated and the approved extensions are not reinstated, key programs and services that address ongoing and emerging education needs of Plaintiffs’ students and local school districts to combat the long-term effects of the pandemic will have to be dissolved or disbanded,” the lawsuit alleges.
“The result of ED’s recission is a massive, unexpected funding gap that is causing serious harm to the public, cutting off vital education services, all to the detriment of the students whom Congress intended to benefit,” it claims.
The Trump administration, for its part, maintains that schools should no longer have access to the fund because “COVID is over.”
“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 misuse,” said Madi Biedermann, the Education Department’s deputy assist secretary for communications. “The Biden Administration established an irresponsible precedent by extending the deadline for spending the COVID money far beyond the intended purpose of the funds, and it is past time for the money to be returned to the people’s bank account.”
“The Department will consider extensions on an individual project-specific basis, where it can be demonstrated that funds are being used to directly mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on student learning,” she said.
All of the attorneys general involved in the lawsuit are registered Democrats. Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro joined the lawsuit independently, as his state’s elected attorney general is a Republican.
Sources
Democratic-led states sue Education Department for ceasing access to COVID funds
Gov. Shapiro joins lawsuit against federal government for education funding
‘Oregon won’t be bullied’: Oregon joins lawsuit over blocked Education Department funding
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