A group of Democratic-led states sued the Education Department Thursday in an effort to regain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief aid that the department abruptly cut off late last month.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, 16 Democratic attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) argued the Education Department violated federal law by blocking access to the funds, which the department, under the Biden administration, previously said the states could access through March 2026.

The funding was approved by Congress and intended for schools to help their students in dealing with the long-term recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plaintiffs stressed the importance of the funding, saying it provides “essential support for a wide range of critical education programs and services needed to address, among other things, the impact of lost instructional time; students’ academic, social, and emotional needs; the safety of school environments; and the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on economically disadvantaged students, including homeless children and children in foster care.”

The plaintiffs said Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s rescission letter, notifying states that the period for accessing the funds had expired, “triggered chaos” for school districts and state education departments. They warned the “drastic and abrupt change in position” from the Education Department will cause “irreparable harm.”

“If the rescission action is not vacated and the approved extensions are not reinstated, key programs and services that address ongoing and emerging education needs of Plaintiffs’ students and local school districts to combat the long-term effects of the pandemic will have to be dissolved or disbanded,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.

“The result of ED’s rescission is a massive, unexpected funding gap that is causing serious harm to the public, cutting off vital education services, all to the detriment of the students whom Congress intended to benefit,” they continued.

The plaintiffs included attorneys general of Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and the District of Columbia. Shapiro joined on behalf of Pennsylvania, whose attorney general is Republican.