Skip to main content
Attorney General Dan Rayfield has joined 20 other attorneys general to sue the Trump administration for freezing $6.8 billion in nationwide education grants—including about $73 million to Oregon schools.
The funding freeze will cut funding to six different grant programs that have been administered by the Department of Education, including migrant education; professional development; English-learner services; student support and academic enrichment; before- and after-school program;, and adult education and family literacy.
The U.S. Department of Education has thrown those programs into review for the 2025-26 school year, disrupting cash flow to state agencies, including the Oregon Department of Education, which then allocates that money toward schools.
In a statement, Rayfield argued that many educational programs will shutter without those grants. “Oregon’s students shouldn’t pay the price for political games,” he said. “Cutting these programs doesn’t just hurt schools – it hurts families and communities.”
The 21 attorneys general are suing the Trump administration for violating federal funding statutes and regulations. They argue the feds have already authorized these programs and allocated funds toward them, and the White House cannot claw them back.
“It is Congress, not the Executive Branch, that possesses the power of the purse,” the lawsuit reads. “The Constitution does not empower the Executive Branch to unilaterally refuse to spend funds appropriated by Congress and enacted into law. Yet that is exactly what Defendants are attempting to do here.”
The Department of Education typically makes about 25% of funds accessible to states by July 1 to allow for planning. These cuts will affect the upcoming school year, ODE spokeswoman Liz Merah previously confirmed to WW.
The lawsuit by the attorneys general is but one battle in a wider war over education funding. It arrives the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president can dismantle the Department of Education without congressional approval.
