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Crime, Law and Justice
The Associated Press

States sue over Trump administration's halt of pandemic relief aid for schools

Trump Higher Education
The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education, as seen on March 12 in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein | AP file

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Public officials in 16 states — including Minnesota — and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration Thursday to restore access to pandemic relief aid for schools, saying the Education Department’s abrupt halt of hundreds of millions of dollars of promised funding will force cuts to vital services.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by a coalition of 16 Democratic attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, plus Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also a Democrat. It claims the administration's refusal to release the aid violates federal law because it reversed a prior decision to allow states to access the money through March 2026.

States were notified late last month that the Education Department would not honor deadline extensions granted by the Biden administration to spend the remainder of COVID relief aid approved by Congress to help schools and students recover from the lasting impacts of the pandemic. Schools were supposed to spend the last of the relief by January but many sought, and were granted, more time.

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In announcing the reversal, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said schools had “ample time” to spend the money, but the agency would consider requests for extensions for individual projects. The department did not say how much money is left of the total $189 billion approved.

James’ office said the relief funding has supported repairs and improvements to school buildings and the purchase of library books, playground equipment and wheelchair-accessible buses. Districts also relied on the aid for programs and services for homeless students, as well as tutoring for students who fell behind because of missed classroom time.

“Arbitrarily cutting funds to help low-income and homeless children hurts not only those children, but taxpayers in every school district and state who will have to pick up the slack,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a news release. “We also allege these cuts are illegal, so we’re holding the administration accountable yet again so they follow the law.”

Also joining the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and the District of Columbia.

MPR News contributed to this report.