PA Gov. Sues Trump Administration Over $185M In Education Funds

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has joined a lawsuit involving 15 other states and the District of Columbia contesting the Trump administration's decision to revoke education funding.

The U.S. Department of Education already approved the money for distribution. The lawsuit contends that $183.6 million is owed to 116 Pennsylvania school districts, charter schools, intermediate units and career and technical centers. Another $1.8 million is owed to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“Congress and the federal government made a commitment to our students, and school districts across Pennsylvania started construction to make schools safer, delivered supplies to students, and invested to create more opportunity for our kids based on that commitment,” Shapiro said in a statement.

“Now the Trump administration is trying to renege on its commitments to our kids and leave Pennsylvania taxpayers holding the bag."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education gave Pennsylvania a time extension through March 2026 to access the money noted in the lawsuit. But on March 28, Education Secretary Linda McMahon abruptly notified the Pennsylvania Department of Education that the period for accessing the funds had expired.

Shapiro asserted that many Pennsylvania school districts and local agencies such as intermediate units and charter schools already have begun spending the money they thought was coming to them. Under the standard process, local districts are reimbursed by the state Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education then reimburses the state.

Among the initiatives being impacted:

• Reading School District was granted over $20 million to replace and install new HVAC systems in its schools. Reading currently is in the middle of those projects relying on the money that is owed to it by the federal government.

• Hollidaysburg School District is spending its allocation of the funding on electronic locking doors.

• Scranton School District was supposed to be granted $104,000 to provide homeless students with backpacks, winter clothes, blankets, and hygiene products.

Participants in the lawsuit are New York, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington DC.

See the entire lawsuit here.