CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 17 states secured a preliminary injunction today against the Trump administration in an ongoing lawsuit to restore access to critical U.S. Department of Education (department) funds that support programs for students across the state.
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The preliminary injunction forces the Trump administration to restore states’ access to funds for programs that support low-income and unhoused students, and provide funding for other essential school services to address the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on K-12 students.
“The Trump administration’s shortsighted and illegal decision to attempt to rescind already-appropriated education funding would hurt vulnerable students the most and could wreak havoc on the budgets of school districts throughout Illinois and the nation,” Raoul said. “I am committed to joining with my fellow attorneys general to stand up against the president’s continued illegal and reckless actions.”
The injunction, issued today by Judge Edgardo Ramos from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, prevents the department from enforcing a March 28 letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon rescinding states’ ability to access their awarded grants from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). On April 10, Raoul and the coalition filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for unilaterally ending access to over $1 billion in grants from ARPA, which the department had previously determined the states could access through March 2026.
To combat the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, ARPA funded three education-related programs to help support states’ school systems and direct more resources to the most vulnerable students. These three programs – Homeless Children and Youth (HCY), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), and Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS) – provide essential resources to help schools and students around the country recover from the lasting impacts of the pandemic.
Raoul and the coalition assert in their lawsuit that the department’s arbitrary and abrupt termination of the states’ access to these funds is causing a massive, unexpected budget gap that will hurt students and teachers by cutting off vital education services.
Attorney General Raoul was joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Oregon, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.
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