Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and leaders from 23 other states filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, challenging its action to freeze $6.8 billion in education funding for states that was already appropriated by Congress.
The complaint in federal court asserts the funding freeze is a violation of federal law and regulations.In a press release about the lawsuit, Beshear said it was his job to ensure that Kentucky’s children get the education funds they are legally entitled to.
“In Kentucky, $96 million in federal education funds are at risk,” Beshear said. “Our kids and our future depend on a strong education, and these funds are essential to making sure our kids succeed.”
The Kentucky Department of Education was notified by the Trump administration on July 1 that $87 million in funding for five different grants that were supposed to be received that day would not be issued, pending a review.
One of the frozen grants was to be distributed to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia, which runs six learning centers serving 600 children and indicated it would have to close without the funds. The four other grants were to go toward migrant education, supporting professional development, English as a second language instruction and general academic enrichment. Another $9 million grant was frozen that was appropriated for the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet for adult literacy.
The grant funding had been approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in the March federal spending stopgap, but his administration stated this month that it needs to investigate whether any appropriations were used to fund a “radical leftwing agenda.”
The Beshear administration press release said Kentucky and other states “are scrambling due to a lack of sufficient funding for these commitments just weeks before the start of the 2025-2026 school year.”
Kateena Haynes, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Appalachia, told Kentucky Public Radio last week that the learning centers providing food, tutoring and after-school enrichment for kids in eastern Kentucky would have to close without the funding or other intervention.
“We get to provide a lot of services that can't be provided in the school or that a lot of the homes that we serve in eastern Kentucky may not be able to give the kids an evening meal, may not be able to help them with their homework, may not have internet,” Haynes said.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
