School districts, teachers unions sue over Trump's freeze on education funding
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The new case comes as the US Department of Education has agreed to release about $1.3 billion in funding for after-school and summer programming, out of $6.8 billion withheld. No decision has been made yet about the rest of the money, a notice to states on Friday said.
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The money released is for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which include nonprofits such as the Boys & Girls Clubs that serve high-poverty, low-performing districts with after-school and summer programs. The frozen funds prompted alarm that those programs would have to shut down or significantly scale back in the coming weeks if the money remained frozen.
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The funds were released after 10
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said the state received $6.5 million from the released after-school funds, but the Department of Education 'hasn't provided any information about when — or if — the remaining Congressionally allocated education funds will be released.'
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Rhode Island had
'Unnecessary delays and cuts to education funding for students are irresponsible,' Infante-Green said. 'Students and teachers in every school district in Rhode Island will be negatively affected.'
The funds that remain withheld support the
The Department of Education and Office of Management and Budget did not immediately comment on the new lawsuit. But OMB previously said it was withholding the funds, which are typically disbursed on July 1, in order to review whether the programs were spreading a 'radical leftwing agenda' including support for undocumented immigrants.
Miriam Weizenbaum, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said the administration would have to follow the appropriate federal procedures to seek to withhold money for that reason, which wasn't done here.
'You get more notice and opportunity to be heard with a speeding ticket,' Weizenbaum said.
The new lawsuit said the 'uncertainty' about the funds is 'causing significant anxiety and confusion among the Teachers Unions' members right before the start of the school year.'
'The Teachers Unions are under intense stress and pressure to help members determine exactly how their jobs will be affected,' the suit
said. 'Some members will be scrambling to find new jobs.'
If cuts take place, class sizes could grow, the lawsuit said, making it 'more difficult for teachers to effectively perform their jobs' and harder for districts to retain teachers.
The plaintiffs include the Anchorage School District in Alaska, the largest district in that state, along with two other Alaskan districts, the Cincinnati Public Schools, and large teachers unions in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.
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Weizenbaum, who was previously a top litigator in the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, said it's unclear if the judge in the separate case would making a ruling that affects all 50 states, or just the 23 states who sued, which would leave out some of the districts in the new case.
She said teachers unions also wanted to bring the separate suit in order to make sure their experience of what the funding cuts will bring is heard before the court.
'Their on-the-ground perspective needs to be before a court,' Weizenbaum said. 'This is a big hit across the country at all levels.'
Maribeth Calabro, the president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, wrote in a declaration attached to the lawsuit that a wide range of jobs in Providence are funded with the withheld money, including instructional coaches, social workers, and behavioral specialists.
The withheld money 'has created widespread uncertainty about staffing levels, student support services, and professional development availability for the upcoming school year,' Calabro wrote.
She said Rhode Island's ability to teach the science of reading could be in jeopardy, along with Providence's compliance with a US Department of Justice settlement over properly teaching English to multilingual learners.
The group asked for a preliminary injunction to release the funding as the case is heard. A hearing date has not yet been set.
Steph Machado can be reached at
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