AG Bonta Secures Full Relief for California Schools in Lawsuit Challenging Withholding of Education Funding

Published Date: Aug 25, 2025

AG Bonta secured an agreement requiring the Trump Administration to release the full balance of remaining education funding at issue in a multistate lawsuit by no later than October 3, 2025. Last month, Attorney General Bonta co-led a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two states in suing the Trump Administration over its unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary decision to freeze funding for six longstanding programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education just weeks before the school year was set to start. In California, over $900 million in federal education funding was frozen, jeopardizing key programs for after school and summer learning, teacher preparation, and to support students learning English. Days later, the Trump Administration released the first tranche of funding that had previously been withheld. The multistate coalition and the Trump Administration today jointly filed a motion to dismiss the case under the terms of an agreement that ensures the remaining funding is released on time, providing California and the multistate coalition with the full relief they had sought in the lawsuit.

“The Trump Administration upended school programs across the country when it recklessly withheld vital education funding just weeks before the school year was set to begin. Fortunately, after we filed our lawsuit, the Trump Administration backed down and released the funding it had previously withheld. Today’s agreement ensures the rest of this funding is released, as scheduled, in October, successfully resolving our lawsuit. Over the past six months, state attorneys general have been a bulwark in the fight against the Trump Administration’s reckless and illegal efforts to slash, withhold, or condition federal funding, and we are not taking our foot off the gas. Our kids deserve so much better than what this anti-education Administration has to offer, and we will continue to fight to protect them from this President’s relentless attacks.” – AG Bonta

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