Attorney General Bonta Secures Decisive Victory in Lawsuit to Protect Over $200 Million for California Schools

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has backed down from its effort to rescind states’ access to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the academic recovery of students following the COVID-19 pandemic. The stipulated agreement, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, leaves in place the preliminary injunction secured by California and other states until all of the funding at issue in the lawsuit is disbursed, effectively resolving the lawsuit in the states’ favor. In California, this agreement will protect over $200 million in previously awarded and obligated funding that school districts are putting to use for programs such as afterschool and summer learning initiatives, the purchase of educational technology, and the provision of mental health services and support.   

“President Trump should not be playing games with the academic future of our children — but when he does and when he breaks the law to do so, we’ll see him in court,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This reversal by the Trump Administration is a huge win for California schools that are relying on this funding to support struggling students and ensure their academic success. It means they do not have to wait for litigation to play out and can confidently spend down this grant funding today. We’re continuing to secure full and final relief for Californians across a number of our lawsuits — and we’re just getting started.” 

HISTORY OF THE CASE

On March 28, 2025, Education Secretary Linda McMahon notified state departments of education that the U.S. Department of Education had unilaterally rescinded access to previously awarded and obligated education funding that is currently being used by school districts to support the academic recovery of students following the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs and services address, among other things, the impact of lost instructional time; students’ academic, social, and emotional needs; and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on marginalized students, including homeless children and children in foster care.  

On April 10, 2025, Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of states challenged the Department of Education’s actions. The states argued that the Department’s decision to rescind access to this funding is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, exceeds the Department’s statutory and regulatory authority under the law, and will cause immediate and devastating harm to school districts in California and across the nation.

On May 6 and June 3, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the federal government from rescinding access to hundreds of millions of dollars in vital education funding while litigation proceeded. The stipulated agreement, filed today with the court, keeps these preliminary injunctions in place until the balance of remaining funding is released to the states. A copy of the agreement is available here.  

SECURING RELIEF FOR CALIFORNIANS

Attorney General Bonta has filed 46 lawsuits against the Trump Administration in 42 weeks, with significant early victories and full and complete wins in litigation protecting California’s funding, programs, and services; safeguarding Californians’ rights and personal, private data; and preventing the dismantling of the federal government.  

Attorney General Bonta has secured permanent injunctions blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to unlawfully impose immigration enforcement requirements on billions of dollars in annual transportation and homeland security grants and halting the Administration’s unlawful attempt to slash funding for a critical energy program. He secured full and permanent relief for California schools in his lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s withholding of over $900 million in funding at the start of the school year, with the remaining tranche of funding scheduled to be released in the coming days. And he stopped $184 million in AmeriCorps cuts, with the White House Office of Management and Budget agreeing to release these funds rather than defend its unlawful actions in court. Most recently, he secured a final ruling barring the Trump Administration from deploying the California National Guard to Portland. 

While many cases are still ongoing, Attorney General Bonta has also secured preliminary relief in the vast majority of cases where he has sought and where a court has issued a ruling: blocking the Trump Administration’s attack on the Department of Health and Human Services; stopping its attempt to impose cruel new restrictions on access to public benefit programs like Head Start based on immigration status; preventing it from allowing ICE to comb through the private data of Medicaid recipients or from bullying states into turning over the data of SNAP recipients to aid in its mass deportation efforts; and safeguarding the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, among other decisions. 

You can find more on the California Department of Justice’s work to hold the federal government accountable here: https://oag.ca.gov/federal-accountability.