Gov. Shapiro sues Trump administration over $230 million in education funding cuts

Gov. Josh Shapiro sued President Donald Trump’s administration Monday, joining a lawsuit filed by 23 other states and the District of Columbia challenging the the decision to withhold more than $6 billion in education funding.

At stake in Pennsylvania is $230 million for teacher training, after school programs, and support for English language learners — money appropriated by Congress that was expected to be available to schools by July 1.

“Once again, the Trump administration is trying to take away dollars that were committed to Pennsylvania — this time from our schools," Shapiro said in a statement Monday.

Though it is rare for governors to file litigation instead of state attorneys general, the lawsuit is the latest of several brought by Shapiro against the Trump administration over frozen or revoked federal funding, including to schools, since the president began his second term in January.

Unlike with most of the other suing states, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Republican Dave Sunday, is not part of the lawsuit — or others that the governor has filed against Trump. Shapiro, a Democrat and former attorney general, joined in his official capacity as governor, saying he was suing “to force the Trump administration to deliver the money our students and schools were promised and are owed.”

New Jersey, where $158 million in education funding is in jeopardy, also joined the lawsuit. Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin pledged to fight against “this lawless and morally indefensible attempt to undermine our best-in-the-nation education system.”

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Rhode Island against Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, and Trump.

It argues that Trump’s administration overstepped its authority in freezing the funding, which McMahon’s department announced to states on June 30, a day before schools were to access the money.

Many of the grant programs in question are long-established. But a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement last week that the programs had been “grossly misused by schools to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda.”

The freeze is “an ongoing programmatic review and no decisions have been made yet,” the spokesperson said.

The funding freeze has “caused chaos” in states’ educational systems, the states said in the complaint, given that schools have already budgeted based on the funds for the coming academic year.

In Pennsylvania, $70 million is being withheld from schools under Title II, which provides funding for recruiting new teachers and improving teachers’ skills and instruction quality.

Other major funding streams that were frozen include $55 million through Title IV for academic enrichment grants, $54 million through Title IV for afterschool programming — with money awarded not just to schools, but community providers — and $20 million through Title III to help students learn English.

The funding freeze has repercussions for districts across the state, including Philadelphia, which said it had projected receiving $33.4 million in Title II, Title III, and Title IV money. Across the region, districts from Upper Darby to Phoenixville have reported impacts.

The lawsuit asks the court to find the Trump administration’s actions unlawful and order the money to be released to the states.