Nevada joins suit against Trump admin to claw back frozen school funding

Nevada is suing the Trump administration for freezing millions of dollars in education grants before the school year starts, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Monday.

Ford said he joined a coalition of 25 states in suing the administration for freezing the funds of six “longstanding programs” through the U.S. Department of Education, totaling an estimated $6.8 billion in funding across the country.

The state officials argue the funding freezes have caused chaos for planning the upcoming academic year — officials were notified of the funds’ disruption one day before they were scheduled for release. The grants support after-school programs, English-learner services, professional development, migrant education and adult education.

The attorney general’s office said the frozen funding is estimated at $53 million for five K-12 programs, or about 15 percent of the state’s total education budget. State officials estimate an additional $8 million was expected for adult education programs.

“The Trump Administration’s decision to freeze $53 million in critical education funding just weeks before our schools open is not only unconstitutional, but it’s a direct attack on Nevada’s students and families,” Ford, a Democrat, said in a news release. “My office has sued to protect education in our state and defend against yet another attempt at federal overreach by the Trump administration. We will not stand by while the federal government abandons its commitment to our children’s future.”

Representatives of the White House and the U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Jhone Ebert, superintendent for the Clark County School District, said the freezes were “unfortunate” and would impact support services for “some of our most vulnerable students” in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week.

Congress appropriated the funds in March, and school districts were set to receive the funds in July to prepare for the upcoming academic year. Instead, the Education Department sent an email to officials on June 30 stating that the six programs’ funds “were being withheld for a ‘review’ of the programs’ consistency with, among other things, the ‘President’s priorities,’” according to the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island.

The suit was filed on the same day as a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined the Trump administration can go through with firing 1,400 Education Department employees. The effort is effectively winding down the department, which has long drawn criticism from President Trump.

The lawsuit seeks court intervention to permanently stop the freeze and release the funds to states.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.