The lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta was joined by 23 attorneys general and two states against the Trump administration for freezing $6.8 billion in education grants.

The funds, including nearly $940 million for California, were intended for primary and secondary education (K-12) already have crucial programs like after-school and summer activities.

The freeze has created chaos, leading to potential program closures and teacher layoffs.

The lawsuit Bonta filed in Rhode Island District Court against the Trump Administration was called “unconstitutional, unlawful, and arbitrary.”

“President Trump and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon have dealt a devastating blow to our schools, throwing them into chaos just weeks before the first day of school in many districts,” Bonta said.

She noted that summer learning programs already underway have been forced to cancel strategic budgeting and staffing plans, and contracts for the upcoming school year are at stake.

She lamented that the blow to education is just the latest in a long line of unlawful attacks on elementary and secondary education in the country since Trump took office.

“Our children are the ones who will suffer the consequences, and they are already suffering in California,” she stated.

Indeed, more than 5.8 million children “are in the crosshairs of Trump’s campaign to destroy education in the United States,” he explained.

California and 23 other states sued the Trump Administration for freezing $6.8 billion in education grants that should have been released since July 1.

Just weeks before the start of the 2025-26 school year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the complaint in the District Court of Rhode Island against the Trump Administration for its “unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary” to freeze funding for six long-standing programs administered by the Department of Education.

Bonta estimated that the withheld funds for the “Golden State” are close to $940 million.

Of the 31 federal lawsuits that have been filed against the Trump administration in the past 25 weeks, eight challenged illegal attacks on education.

This time, the administration froze nearly $7 billion in federal funds owed to states, a quarter of which should have been available by July 1.

However, on June 30, the Department of Education sent a three-sentence boilerplate email from an anonymous address, alerting states that they would not receive the funds they expected and planned to use and distribute.

“The budget is stable for this year, but will face difficulties in the future,” she told La Opinion Dr. Rocio Rivas, representative of District 2 of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest in the United States, only after New York, with 429,000 students.

This year, summer classes in the LAUSD have been funded with state money.

However, Dr. Rivas clarified that they will have to figure out how to temporarily cover the expenses incurred in the five summer programs offered by the district: for all high school students who need to recover credits in order to graduate on time; for students recently arrived in the country; the English learning and counseling program; and the program for special education students.

“We will keep all the receipts and cross our fingers that they return the money that was already spent on the programs,” Rivas declared. “We do not want to let any employees go, nor do we want to let our students go because they need these programs and these services.”

“An arbitrary action”

During the At a virtual conference led by Bonta, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser expressed disbelief, saying his state’s education budget is in a precarious and unsustainable situation “because of this arbitrary, unfair, and inexplicable action.” “How can we improve instruction, including through the use of technology?” Weiser asked. “We are on the cusp of enabling AI (Artificial Intelligence) to provide transformative opportunities to make teachers’ lives easier and personalize learning.” He noted that one of the largest AI companies in education, known as Magic School, is in Colorado, and that schools that are adopting the program are seeing excellent results.

“These [frozen] grants could help move that project forward,” he added. “This administration is undermining our future.”

“The Power of Congress”

Massachusetts State Attorney General Andrea Campbell thanked the coalition of prosecutors from 23 states and the governors of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, and Kentucky, Andre Beshear, for joining the lawsuit against Trump and argued that her state should have received $100 million to fund all types of educational programs.

“We must help our students meet educational standards, support English learners, promote effective classroom instruction, improve the conditions and quality of our schools, provide after-school programs and extracurricular activities for our families and children, contribute to workforce development, and much more.”

She added that, like so many other measures of the Trump administration, the funding freeze is creating chaos and confusion as schools grapple with the start of the new year and also with how they will overcome the funding shortfalls generated by this decision.

“This administration has shown us repeatedly that they will break the rule of law, that they have no respect for the Constitution or the rule of law in this country. The president does not have the power to unilaterally decide to withhold funds that were appropriated by Congress,” she stressed.

Los Angeles joins two lawsuits

Los Angeles District Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced that the city has joined two lawsuits against the Trump Administration to protect federal funds threatened by the Trump Administration’s immigration overreach.

In the case of King County v. Turner, Los Angeles joined a coalition of local governments, led by King County, Washington, to challenge unlawful conditions attached to funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In the case of San Francisco v. Trump, the lead plaintiffs, the County of San Francisco and Santa Clara County, asked the court for permission to add Los Angeles and a coalition of other cities and counties as new plaintiffs to a pending lawsuit seeking to block the Trump Administration from enforcing executive orders sanctioning and withholding federal funding to sanctuary cities.

“This administration is illegally threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars that fund safety and essential public services. “The attempt to pressure our city by imposing unlawful conditions on essential appropriations and grants violates the Constitution and impermissibly interferes with our fundamental functions, sovereignty, and local control,” said City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. “Any loss of funding would have a devastating impact on the city’s overall budget and finances.” “Unconstitutional Actions” In addition to filing a lawsuit against Los Angeles for being a “Sanctuary City,” President Donald Trump has issued numerous executive orders (EOs) directing his administration, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to withhold federal funds and sanction so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, Trump issued an executive order compelling local authorities to conduct federal civil immigration enforcement activities. He subsequently issued another executive order directing the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that refuse to use their local resources to implement its immigration agenda.

The two lawsuits joined by Los Angeles allege that such actions are unconstitutional.

Specifically, the coalition in San Francisco v. Trump alleges that the president’s executive orders violate the Tenth Amendment, the separation of powers, the Spending Clause, and the Due Process Clause, and seeks to prohibit the administration from enforcing them.

In King County v. Turner, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. County in Washington state, the coalition is challenging Trump administration officials at numerous departments, including HUD, DOT, and HHS, authorized to distribute federal grants, asserting that only Congress, not the president, can set permissible conditions that agencies can attach to grant awards.

Unilateral Imposition of Conditions

According to the lawsuit, the Department of Housing, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services seek to attach conditions to the funding to force grant recipients, such as the City of Los Angeles, to implement President Trump's policy agenda and compel them to adopt his legal positions, in violation of established law, particularly with respect to immigration enforcement, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and reproductive health services.

Attorney General Feldstein Soto found that by unilaterally imposing conditions on the grants that bear little or no relationship to the purposes of the grant programs established by Congress, Trump administration officials are usurping Congress’s power over the budget.

Through this litigation, the City of Los Angeles seeks to protect over $470 million in grants that would fund, among other things, the purchase of new public transit buses, airport infrastructure improvements, and housing and community development programs.

Federal grants play a critical role in funding basic services for the City of Los Angeles.

During the 2025-2026 fiscal year alone, which began July 1, the City expects to receive over $704 million in federal funding, with over $374 million coming from formula grants.

These funds support emergency response programs; police hiring; Crime prevention and victim assistance programs, including domestic violence support services, gang reduction, and youth development programs. Funds are also used for rape kit processing; homeless services; development and management of affordable and permanent supportive housing; security improvements for the Port of Los Angeles; services for older city residents, including nutrition programs, senior centers, transportation assistance, and disaster recovery funds related to the recent wildfires and winter storms. The fact is that none of these federally funded programs involve immigration enforcement.

These funds support emergency response programs; police hiring; crime prevention and victim assistance programs, including domestic violence support services, gang reduction, and youth development programs.

The funds are also used for rape kit processing; homeless services; development and management of affordable and permanent supportive housing; security improvements for the Port of Los Angeles; services for older city residents, including nutrition programs, senior centers, transportation assistance, and disaster recovery funds related to the recent wildfires and winter storms.

The fact is that none of these federally funded programs involve immigration enforcement.

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