CA Attorney General Rob Bonta sued 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 in many parts of California is set to start. In California, an estimated $939 million in federal education funding is frozen. Without this funding, many educational programs will shutter – already, ongoing summer learning programs have been left unfunded. In filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta co-leads a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two states together with the attorneys general of Colorado, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The attorneys general argue that the funding freeze violates federal funding statutes and regulations authorizing these critical programs and appropriating funds for them, violates federal statutes governing the federal budgeting process, including the Antideficiency Act and Impoundment Control Act, and violates the constitutional separation of powers doctrine and the Presentment Clause. They ask the court for declaratory and injunctive relief.

“With no rhyme or reason, the Trump Administration abruptly froze billions of dollars in education funding just weeks before the start of the school year. In doing so, it has threatened the existence of programs that provide critical after school and summer learning opportunities, that teach English to students, and that provide educational technology to our classrooms. Taken together with his other attacks on education, President Trump seems comfortable risking the academic success of a generation to further his own misguided political agenda. But as with so many of his other actions, this funding freeze is blatantly illegal, and we’re confident the court will agree.” – AG Bonta