On April 10, 2025, New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 16 attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania in filing a federal lawsuit before the District Court of New York challenging the Department of Education’s abrupt rescission of states’ access to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding currently being used by school districts to support the academic recovery of students following the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 28, the Education Department notified states that it was unilaterally ending access to hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which the Department had previously determined the states could access through March 2026. The sudden, arbitrary termination of states’ access to these funds created a massive budget gap for state education departments and local school districts that will cause serious harm to students throughout the country. In the lawsuit, the coalition argued that Education Department’s decision to rescind access to this funding is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, exceeds the Department’s statutory and regulatory authority under the law, and will cause immediate and devastating harm to school districts across the nation. On May 6, 2025, the court issued a preliminary injunction to immediately restore access to the grant funds as the case continues. The preliminary judgement was extended on June 3 for one month, with the Department of Education ordered to process current and future funding requests “without delay.”

Cutting critical funding that students and schools are counting on is unacceptable and reckless. These cuts will have a detrimental effect on our children, stunting their ability to learn in the classroom by rendering schools unable to provide essential resources like food, classroom supplies, special education for teachers and more. Our office will always fight for the wellbeing of our children and we prioritize ensuring that they receive the resources they need to reach their full potential. Attorney General Raúl Torrez