Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration over $53 Million in Frozen Funds for Connecticut Schools

Press Releases

07/14/2025

Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration over $53 Million in Frozen Funds for Connecticut Schools

Trump Administration has Unlawfully and Arbitrary Frozen $6.8 Billion in Education Grants Nationwide

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 25 states in suing the Trump Administration over its unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary decision to freeze $6.8 billion in funding for six longstanding programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education, including over $53 million for Connecticut schools alone. Loss of this funding will cause immediate and severe harm to schools nationwide. Already, ongoing summer learning programs have been left unfunded. Attorney General Tong and the coalition ask the court to declare the funding freeze unlawful – as courts have repeatedly done in other cases filed by Connecticut and the states– and to block any attempts to withhold or delay this funding.

“Trump and Linda McMahon are stealing from Connecticut schools to fund tax cuts for billionaires, and its our kids and our teachers who are paying the price. We are talking about over $53 million already built into local school budgets in nearly every district in Connecticut for computers and technology, afterschool enrichment and field trips, social workers, English language instruction, teacher training, adult education and more. We stopped Trump when he tried to defund Head Start, when he tried to defund disaster relief and energy assistance, when he tried to defund our police, cancer research, and our libraries. We are back in court yet again to make sure our schools and our kids get every penny that our tax dollars paid for,” said Attorney General Tong.

“At a time when we’re making historic investments in our children and their future, it is shameful that President Trump does not share those same goals. One of the most important things we can do as a nation is to create more opportunities for children by funding K-12 education. As if kicking people off their health insurance, reducing funding to hospitals, and limiting food and nutrition wasn’t harmful enough, the Trump administration has reached a new low by withholding federal funds for after-school and other enrichment programs. While no state in the nation will be able to backfill these massive cuts, we have been doing our part to lift students up, reduce absenteeism through investments in the LEAP program, increasing support for special education, and more. We demand that this federal funding be restored and thank Attorney General Tong for his efforts,” said Governor Ned Lamont.

“We recognize the critical nature of this funding to school districts and community partners over the summer and throughout the school year,” said Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell-Tucker. “While these funds remain under federal review, the Connecticut State Department of Education remains committed to providing timely guidance and clear communication to our district superintendents and funded entities, pending resolution of this matter.”

“The federal government’s decision to pull this approved funding represents a broken promise that does real harm to our schools and our kids,” said Senator Doug McCrory, co-chair of the General Assembly’s Education Committee. “Districts across Connecticut were counting on these dollars to support after-school programs, strengthen classroom instruction, and make sure educators had the resources they need. Instead, communities around our state have been left scrambling to fill the gap. Our students deserve better and I’m proud to stand with Attorney General Tong as he fights to ensure that our schools receive the funding they’ve been promised.”

"The Trump Administration haphazardly withholding $7 billion in the Titled education programs from the states, and $50 million here in Connecticut, represents the worst case scenario we've feared since his inauguration," State Rep. Jenn Leeper, co-chair of the General Assembly's Education Committee, said. "Withholding congressionally approved funding causes chaos across the board - our children are not served or cared for, our nonprofits are depleted, and our most vulnerable residents are punished the most. Our state cannot completely backfill these deep cuts. The federal government shouldn't be working against us; it should be working with us and for us."

“The Connecticut Education Association stands strong with the Attorney General in fighting back against the Trump administration’s reckless decision to withhold more than $6 billion in critical education funding,” said CEA President Kate Dias. “We will not stand by while this administration cuts funding for our most vulnerable students — playing politics with their futures. We urge the courts to stop this dangerous and deeply irresponsible move, and we call on leaders across the country to demand that these funds be restored immediately."

“The White House has dropped an unnecessary and cruel bomb on students and their families. The devastation has also left public school leaders across the country in financial turmoil. This move undermines summer and after-school programs, special education and English language services, as well as freezes resources for recruiting, hiring and retaining teachers and support staff. All Connecticut students - not just those most in need - will be jeopardized if local districts are forced to make up the difference. No one voted for starving children of their opportunity to learn. The White House should immediately back off and allow the resources Congress has already appropriated to be directed to classrooms here in Connecticut and across the nation,” said Mary Yordan, AFT Connecticut Vice President.

For decades, Connecticut and other states have used funding under these programs to carry out a broad range of programs and services, including educational programs for English learners; programs that promote effective classroom instruction, improve school conditions and the use of technology in the classroom; community learning centers that offer students a broad range of opportunities for academic and extracurricular enrichment; and adult education and workforce development efforts.

Pursuant to federal statutory and regulatory requirements, each year the Department of Education makes around 25 percent of the funds for these programs available to states on or about July 1 in order to permit state and local educational agencies to plan their budgets for the academic year ahead. The States have complied with the funding conditions set forth under the law and have State plans that the Department of Education has already approved. The States have received these funds, without incident, for decades, including as recently as last year. However, this year, on June 30, state agencies across the country received a notification announcing that the Department of Education would not be “obligating funds for” six formula funding programs on July 1.

This funding freeze has immediately thrown into chaos plans for the upcoming academic year. Local education agencies have approved budgets, developed staffing plans, and signed contracts to provide vital educational services under these grants. Now, as a result of the Trump Administration’s actions, States find themselves without sufficient funding for these commitments, just weeks before the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Essential summer school and afterschool programs, which provide childcare to working parents of school age children, are already being impacted. The abrupt freeze is also wreaking havoc on key teacher training programs as well as programs that make school more accessible to children with special learning needs, such as English learners.

But it is Congress, not the Executive Branch, that possesses the power of the purse. The Constitution does not afford the Executive Branch power to unilaterally refuse to spend appropriations that were passed by both houses of Congress and were signed into law. Yet that is exactly what the Trump Administration is attempting to do here. In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Tong and a coalition argue that the Trump Administration’s actions violate federal funding statutes and Appropriations Act, Apportionment, the Administrative Procedures Act and U.S. Constitution, including the separation of powers doctrine, equitable ultra vires, and the Presentment Clause. The lawsuit seeks both declaratory and injunctive relief—to declare the funding freeze unlawful and block Trump from withholding these critical funds.

Attorney General Tong joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in filing today's lawsuit.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here.

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