California educators vow to fight sudden Trump $811 million education fund freeze

Jennah Pendleton, The Sacramento Bee on Jul 1, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California educators are calling on the Trump administration to release the $6.8 billion in education grants it is withholding from 33 states, labeling the federal government’s actions illegal and disastrous for students.

The California Department of Education received notice that the grant money would not be disbursed less than a day before July 1, when those funds are typically released annually.

California schools stand to lose a projected $811 million in the education dollars (16.5% of the total funding the state receives from the federal government) that go toward critical services like English language learning, help for the children of migrant workers, afterschool programming, teacher training programs and classroom technology.

These frozen funds have already been approved by Congress, which is why California Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond, among other leaders nationwide, are vowing to use the courts to push back against President Donald Trump’s decision.

“We will pursue every legal avenue available to us to have these funds restored,” Thurmond said in a Tuesday news conference at the state Department of Education.

Thurmond, standing alongside representatives of statewide education associations and labor organizations, pointed to recent success in blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to unlawfully withhold funds appropriated by Congress. He said that he anticipated any effort to withhold funds from the school system that have been appropriated by Congress “will be met by the same results that they have been met with so far in the federal court system.”

What the federal grants do

In its brief letter to the state department of education Monday, the administration said it would be reviewing its funding for several grant programs and that decisions have not yet been made concerning the awards for the upcoming school year.

The programs affected include:

▪ Title I-C, which supports the educational needs of the children of migrant workers

▪ Title II-A, which funds programs to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers

▪ Title III-A, which supports students learning English

▪ Title IV-A, which goes to enhancing classroom technology

▪ Title IV-B, which provides flexible funds to states for family-based services to prevent child maltreatment

The letter concluded: “The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities.”

“It means that this is a President of the United States that is willing to punish students in states that refuse to conform with the president’s political ideology,” state education department Chief of Staff David Schapira said. “And so when we in California read those words … We feel targeted, as every American should feel targeted, because that is not the standard by which the taxpayers gave those funds to the federal government. The taxpayers entrusted their elected representatives in Congress to appropriate dollars that are meant to serve students across this country. Those should not be held hostage by the priorities of one person.”

State leaders emphasized that the grant programs Trump is targeting serve some of the most vulnerable in the system, but that all California students will be affected by the loss of funds. One in three students in California’s K12 system speak another language besides English at home.

“That’s over a million students who are currently English language learners,” California Teachers Association President David Goldberg said. “As educators, our members know the critical role of these programs and these dollars really play in the success of these students, and if they are withheld from our classroom, it is going to be disastrous.

School districts across the state have already created their budgets, hired staff and planned programming based on access to this money. Schapira said that it is difficult for his department to make recommendations to educational agencies because they don’t “necessarily know what’s coming next.”

He hopes that the funding will be released in time for the upcoming school year, which begins next month for most California districts, but that individual districts will have to consult their own legal counsels to make the best decisions moving into the next school year.

Tasha Davenport of the California Association of School Business Officials noted that districts across the state have been planning for the possibility of this scenario, so they are not starting from square one.

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