NJ Sues Trump Again, This Time Over School Funding Freeze

New Jersey is joining with more than 20 other states in suing President Donald Trump's administration for their freeze of federal funding that would be directed towards after-school care and summer programs.

According to the AP, the lawsuit says that withholding the $6 billion is against the Constitution and a handful of federal laws. This includes $158 million for New Jersey. These funds, mostly to aid low-income families, put them at risk of losing access to after-school care that begins for some as early as late July.

Trump is pausing the funds while reviewing what his administration says is an atempt to fund "a radical leftwing agenda." The money would cover not only these after-school and summer programs, but also Engligh language instruction, adult literacy aid and more.

“Freezing billions of dollars in critical education funding just ahead of the start of the school year isn’t just wrong and reckless. It is also flagrantly illegal,” added New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “Rather than working with us to support students, educators, and schools, the Trump Administration continues to harm our children and families by defunding afterschool care programs, teacher training programs, and programs for English learners and those with special needs.

After-School Programs At Risk

The Afterschool Alliance says that in New Jersey, for every kid enrolled in an afterschool system, there are another three who are waiting for an available program.

Demand for afterschool programs has reached an all-time high in the state, with more than 650,000 children who would be enrolled in a program if one were available to them.

According to the Learning Policy Institute, New Jersey stands to lose $142,873,539, or 12.7 percent of K-12 funding, if the programs paused by Trump’s Education Department are eliminated after the review.

The five grant programs under review include one establishing 21st Century Community Learning Centers. According to the Learning Policy Institute, New Jersey would lose $32,575,215 for these programs.

Grant funding is the primary federal funding source for after-school programs and supports more than 10,000 local programs nationwide, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Afterschool Alliance. Each state runs its own competition to distribute the grants, which totaled $1.3 billion this fiscal year.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America depend on some of the withheld money to run camps and other summer programming for low-income students. If funding isn't restored soon, the programming may end mid-season, Boys and Girls Club President Jim Clark told The Associated Press.

After-school programming in the fall could also take a hit. “If these funds are blocked, the fallout will be swift and devastating,” Clark said. As many as 926 Boys and Girls Clubs could close, affecting more than 220,000 kids, the group said.

What Else Is Cut?

The other four programs, and the effect of cuts on New Jersey if the funding is eliminated, are, according to the Learning Policy Institute, are:

• $2 billion in grants for teachers’ professional development and efforts to reduce class size (New Jersey would lose $46,935,004);
• $1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning (New Jersey would lose $33,901,402);
• $890 million for students who are learning English (New Jersey would lose $28,353,932);
• $376 million to educate the children of migrant workers (New Jersey would lose $1,107,986); and

Programs Targeted In Trump’s Budget

Programs that rely on the money were expecting it to be distributed July 1, but an Education Department notice issued June 30 announced the money would not be released while the programs are under review. The department did not provide a timeline and warned that “decisions have not yet been made” on grants for the upcoming school year.

Some advocates fear the grants are being targeted for elimination, which could force schools to cut programs and teachers. Trump’s 2026 budget proposal called for Congress to zero out all the programs under review, signaling the administration sees them as unnecessary.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) pressed the administration to spend the money as Congress intended.

"Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they'll have to cut back on after-school programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed," Murray said in a statement.

“Trump is illegally impounding billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to serve students this fiscal year,” Tony Thurmond, California's state superintendent, said in a statement. “The Administration is punishing children when states refuse to cater to Trump's political ideology."

In April, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin joined 18 other attorneys general in filing an earlier lawsuit against the Trump administration's handling of federal funding for K-12 schools.

“We won’t stand for this unlawful threat or for any action that will harm our best-in-the-nation education system." Platkin went on to add that, "Make no mistake: We will continue to stand up for our schools, our teachers, and our students—and we will continue to fight back against these dangerous, reckless, and illegal attempts to deny our students the education they deserve."

Earlier this month, the Office of Management and Budget found that schools have been using some federal funding to support immigrants in the country illegally and LGBTQ+ inclusion plans. “Many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda,” the Office of Management and Budget added.

In the case of program to support English literacy, the $890 million currently in place is used in a wide range of purposes, from training teachers’ aides, to running summer schools designed for them and also hiring family liaisons who speak the parents’ native languages. The $375 million set aside for migrant education is often used to hire teachers that will travel close to where students live.

According to Amaya Garcia, the director for education research at New Amertica, the administration is “cherrypicking extreme examples” and looking to group all students learning English with people who are in the country illegally.

New Jersey joins California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in filing this latest lawsuit.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

MORE FROM PATCH: $142M In NJ Education Funding Paused By Trump Administration: See Impacted Programs