Nineteen States Sue Trump Over School Funding Threat

A coalition of 19 attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Friday to block its plans to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from states that refuse to scrap diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 schools.

The lawsuit, led by California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York, argues that an ultimatum delivered by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month to comply with the Trump administration’s interpretation of federal anti-discrimination law was unconstitutional and unlawful. To be in compliance, states were required to certify that schools were adhering to a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the use of race in a range of decisions including admissions, financial aid and other aspects of education.

While federal judges temporarily blocked Trump’s order earlier this week in separate rulings, the attorneys general filed the lawsuit in hopes of winning a decisive ruling that bars the administration from withholding funding over its DEI demands.

“The federal Department of Education is not trying to ‘combat’ discrimination with this latest order,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Instead it is using our nation’s foundational civil rights law as a pretext to coerce states into abandoning efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion through lawful programs and policies.”

In all, the lawsuit claims Trump’s directive puts more than $18.7 billion of federal funding for education at risk. California receives nearly $8 billion each year in funding from the Department of Education, which is mostly used to support programs for students from low-income families and special education services. New York receives more than $3 billion, of which around half goes to support low-income students.

“Every student has the fundamental right to learn in an environment that is welcoming and open to everyone,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump officials have argued they have the authority to control the spigot of federal school dollars. “Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right. When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements,” said Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, in a statement when the order was announced.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement that the Trump administration is attempting to “illegally stop the allocation of these Congressionally-mandated funds in order to push a vague, anti-DEI agenda at the expense of some of the most vulnerable children in Illinois and across the country.”

The states’ lawsuit contends that the Trump administration has “repeatedly failed to define the conduct that they seek to punish or prohibit” or what constitutes “illegal DEI.”

“This ambiguity pressures Plaintiff States to curtail lawful, congressionally sanctioned and required, initiatives and programs that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, in order to dispel all fear of losing federal funds or becoming a target of enforcement,” the lawsuit states.