Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 25 states and attorneys general, today announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its unconstitutional, unlawful and arbitrary decision to freeze billions of dollars that funds six longstanding education grants just weeks before the start of the school year.
“With the start of the school year only a month away for many Illinois students, the Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze is wreaking havoc on school budgets, suspending programs and causing stress and anxiety for families who depend on them,” Raoul said. “I will continue to stand with other attorneys general against the president’s unlawful and arbitrary actions that threaten the separation of powers as well as the rule of law.”
In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition argue that the Trump administration’s actions violate federal funding statutes, including the Anti-deficiency Act, the Appropriations Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Impoundment Control Act, as well as multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution. The coalition asked the court to declare the funding freeze unlawful – as courts have repeatedly done in other multistate cases – and block any attempts to withhold or delay this funding. Illinois and its coalition partners alternatively asked the court to order the defendants to comply with their statutory and constitutional duties, and immediately release the illegally withheld funds to the states.
For decades, Illinois and other states have used funding provided through these grants to carry out a broad range of programs and services, including educational programs for migrant children and English learners; programs that promote effective classroom instruction, improve school conditions and enhance the use of technology in the classroom; community learning centers that offer students a broad range of opportunities for academic and extracurricular enrichment; and adult education and workforce development efforts.
Based on funding granted for the 2024-2025 school year, Illinois expected to receive an estimated $219 million dollars in federal education funding that is now frozen – leaving a gaping hole in the state’s education budget.
Pursuant to federal statutory and regulatory requirements, each year the U.S. Department of Education makes around 25% of the funds for these programs available to states on or about July 1 in order to permit state and local education agencies to plan their budgets for the academic year ahead. Illinois and the other plaintiff states have complied with the funding conditions set forth under the law and have individual state plans that the Department of Education has already approved. The states have received these funds, without incident, for decades, including as recently as last year. However, this year, on June 30, Illinois and state agencies across the country received a notification announcing that the Department of Education would not be “obligating funds for” six formula funding programs on July 1.
The funding freeze has immediately thrown into chaos plans for the upcoming academic year. Local education agencies have approved budgets, developed staffing plans and signed contracts to provide vital educational services under these grants. Now, as a result of the Trump administration’s actions, states including Illinois find themselves facing the possibility of funding insufficient to maintain many of these commitments just weeks before the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Essential summer school and afterschool programs, which provide childcare to working parents of school age children, are already being impacted. The abrupt freeze is also wreaking havoc on key teacher training programs as well as programs that make school more accessible to children with special learning needs, such as English learners.
Raoul and the coalition also highlight that it is Congress – not the executive branch – that possesses the power of the purse. The Constitution does not afford the executive branch power to unilaterally refuse to spend appropriations that were passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law.
Joining Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
