States sue over Trump administration's sudden halt of pandemic relief aid for schools
Source: AP
Updated 9:00 PM EDT, April 10, 2025
Public officials in 16 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration Thursday to restore access to pandemic relief aid for schools, saying the Education Department’s abrupt halt of hundreds of millions of dollars of promised funding will force cuts to vital services.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by a coalition of 16 Democratic attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, plus Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also a Democrat. It claims the administration’s refusal to release the aid violates federal law because it reversed a prior decision to allow states to access the money through March 2026.
States were notified late last month that the Education Department would not honor deadline extensions granted by the Biden administration to spend the remainder of COVID relief aid approved by by Congress to help schools and students recover from the lasting impacts of the pandemic. Schools were supposed to spend the last of the relief by January but many sought, and were granted, more time.
In announcing the reversal, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said schools had “ample time” to spend the money, but the agency would consider requests for extensions for individual projects. The department did not say how much money is left of the total $189 billion approved.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-pandemic-relief-funding-states-lawsuit-e8b22caf1f2463085235d25af1d1b11b
Link to COMPLAINT (PDF) - https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/state-covid-schools-funding-complaint.pdf
In addition to NY & PA, you have (from OP article) -