ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 25 states and attorneys general to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the freezing of $6.8 billion in education grants.

In the lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition argue that the Trump administration’s actions violate federal funding statutes. These include the Anti-deficiency Act, the Appropriations Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Impoundment Control Act, as well as multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

This coalition is calling the Trump administration’s decision to freeze billions of dollars in funding for six longstanding education grants, “unconstitutional, unlawful and arbitrary.” The administration’s decision comes just weeks before the start of the new school year.

“With the start of the school year only a month away for many Illinois students, the Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze is wreaking havoc on school budgets, suspending programs and causing stress and anxiety for families who depend on them,” Raoul said. “I will continue to stand with other attorneys general against the president’s unlawful and arbitrary actions that threaten the separation of powers as well as the rule of law.”

Additionally, this coalition has asked the court to declare the funding freeze as unlawful — as courts have repeatedly done in other multistate cases — and block any attempts to delay or withhold the funding. Illinois and its coalition partners alternatively asked the court to order the defendants to comply with their statutory and constitutional duties and immediately release the withheld funds to the states.

Illinois and other states have used funding provided through these grants to carry out a broad range of programs and services for decades, including:

• Educational programs for migrant children and English learners
• Programs that promote effective classroom instruction, improve school conditions and enhance the use of technology in the classroom
• Community learning centers that offer students a broad range of opportunities for academic and extracurricular enrichment
• Adult education and workforce development efforts

Illinois is anticipated to receive an estimated $219 million in federal education funding that is now frozen, based on funding granted for the 2024-25 school year. Raoul said this would leave a large hole in the state’s education budget.

Every year, the U.S. Department of Education makes roughly 25% of the funds for these programs available to states around July 1. This helps state and local education agencies plan their budgets for the upcoming academic year.

Raoul added that the state of Illinois and the other plaintiff states have complied with the funding conditions set forth under the law and have individual state plans that the Department of Education has already approved. These states have, without incident, received these funds for decades, including as recently as 2024.

However, on June 30, 2025, Illinois and state agencies across the country got a notification announcing that the Department of Education would not be “obligating funds” for six formula funding programs on July 1.

“This funding freeze has immediately thrown into chaos plans for the upcoming academic year,” part of Raoul’s news release reads. “Local education agencies have approved budgets, developed staffing plans and signed contracts to provide vital educational services under these grants. Now, as a result of the Trump administration’s actions, states including Illinois find themselves facing the possibility of funding insufficient to maintain many of these commitments just weeks before the start of the 2025-2026 school year.”

Raoul also points out that essential summer school and afterschool programs, which provide childcare to working parents of school age children, are already feeling the impacts. This freeze is detrimental to key teacher training programs, and programs that make school more accessible to children with special learning needs.

The coalition said that it is Congress, not the executive branch, that possesses the power of the purse. Specifically, they said the Constitution does not afford the executive brand power to refuse to spend appropriations that were passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law.

Attorneys general of the following states and federal territories joined Raoul in filing this lawsuit:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• The District of Columbia
• Hawaii
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Raoul was also joined by the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the filing of this lawsuit.