Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Democratic leaders from other states and Washington, D.C., are suing the Trump administration over a freeze of $6.8 billion in federal funding for K-12 schools that began earlier this month.
In a press release about the lawsuit filed Monday, Beshear said the matter is “not about Democrat or Republican” and that he joined the suit because “these funds were appropriated by Congress for the education of Kentucky’s children, and it’s my job to ensure we get them.”
“In Kentucky, $96 million in federal education funds are at risk,” Beshear said. “Our kids and our future depend on a strong education, and these funds are essential to making sure our kids succeed.”
The U.S. Department of Education told states on June 30 that it would be withholding funding for several programs, including before- and after-school programs, migrant education and English-language learning. The next day, July 1, is when the funds are typically sent out as educators prepare for the coming school year.
The governor’s office said the Kentucky Department of Education, the state’s education agency, was set to receive $87 million to distributer to local school districts and another $9 million was to go to the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet for grants to support adult literacy.
Beshear has been among Democratic state officials challenging some Trump administration decisions in court, including a federal funding freeze announced in January.
Along with the District of Columbia, the other states involved in the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
The National Education Association and the NAACP have also challenged the education funding freeze in court.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
McKenna Horsley covers state politics for the Kentucky Lantern. She previously worked for newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia, and Frankfort, Kentucky. She is from northeastern Kentucky.
