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Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined 15 other state attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday to sue the Trump administration for suspending millions of dollars in federal COVID-era school aid.
On March 28, the U.S. Department of Education, under the command of the new administration, paused COVID-era dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act. Under the Biden administration, states had been allowed to apply for extensions if they could show the funding was still going toward pandemic recovery efforts. The Trump administration said extensions were unnecessary, saying that the pandemic was over. (The Oregon Department of Education has said those funds would expire in January 2026, but Rayfield’s suit says the date is closer to March 2026.)
In Oregon, sudden expiration of funds removed $3.5 million from ODE, the statewide agency. It was using that money to fund five programs, all of which centered on instructional improvements for teachers.
In a breakdown sent to newsrooms April 4, the department presented specific figures. It comes out to about $1.5 million for a series of different instructional frameworks and the resources to accompany them, about $1.2 million for educator development opportunities, and another $745,000 toward communications and technical assistance.
But while some states started an appeals process with the federal department to get their aid back (they will be required to show that their programs help patch pandemic learning loss), Oregon moved to cancel those programs. Some education experts and advocates in the state said that could be because the department didn’t see those programs as most valuable to improving student outcomes.
Others criticized the department for directing money toward developing frameworks and other resources that weren’t evidence-based ways to help kids catch up. The department denied that its programs weren’t helpful for students.
Now, Oregon is suing to get its money back.
In a media release, Rayfield and his coalition said the termination of dollars was “arbitrary and abrupt” and would cause a massive budget gap that would hurt students and teachers.
“With this lawsuit, Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition are seeking a preliminary and permanent court order preventing [the federal Education Department] from arbitrarily changing its position so the states can continue to access these essential funds,” it reads.
“We’re standing up to Trump not for politics, but for our students,” Rayfield said in the release. “Oregon won’t be bullied, and we’re taking this fight to court to protect every student and teacher who’s been caught in the crossfire of these political games.”
One education activist WW spoke with, Dr. Christine Pitts, was not impressed by the frameworks that the department had put forward.
Pitts, an education policy expert, studied different COVID-relief plans and says other states made significant gains with their students when they invested in high-dosage tutoring, career technical education or strong teacher training programs.
“If they capture funding back, I hope it will go to student-facing initiatives,” she now says.