ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL LEADS COALITION OPPOSING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ATTEMPT TO POLITICIZE EDUCATION GRANT FUNDING
Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-led a multistate coalition opposing the U.S. Department of Education’s proposal to greatly expand the Trump administration's discretion over school funding decisions. In their comment letter, Raoul and the coalition argue that the proposal is unlawful and urge the department to withdraw it.
“This proposed rule purports to give the administration unprecedented control over federal education spending without the approval of Congress,” Raoul said. “I remain committed to fighting back against the Trump administration’s attempts to unlawfully use funding for our schools as political leverage.”
In August, the Department of Education announced a proposal to make several substantive changes to the rules governing how the department administers grant programs, including both discretionary and formula grant programs. This unlawful proposal would allow the Trump administration to arbitrarily attach policy conditions to education grants and to terminate funding at any time for any reason, among other changes. The proposal jeopardizes billions of dollars in funding for children’s educational programs, including programs that directly support children, programs that fund teachers and other educational staff, and programs to train and support teachers. The proposal also threatens funding of current research projects studying methods and practices to better teach reading, writing and math.
In their comments, Raoul and the coalition argue that the president lacks the authority to place conditions on federal funds beyond those authorized by Congress. The coalition asserts that the proposal is unconstitutional and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act. Raoul and the coalition call on the department to withdraw the proposed rule.
The proposal follows many earlier attempts by the Trump administration to leverage federal funding to achieve executive branch policies that Congress never authorized. This includes its sweeping attempt to freeze $3 trillion in federal funding to states, specific grant terminations of the administration’s disfavored programs, and new conditions on federal funding to advance the administration’s policy priorities. Most of these attempts have been blocked by the litigation efforts of Raoul and fellow state attorneys general.
Attorney General Raoul co-led the coalition with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. They are joined in submitting the comment letter by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia, along with the governor of Kentucky.
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