A coalition of states that includes Delaware won a court order on May 6 at least temporarily blocking a Trump administration cut to federal Department of Education funding.
In April, a coalition of 15 attorneys general from states including Delaware, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania, sued the U.S. Department of Education claiming a March order that ended states’ access to more than $1 billion in grant funding was unlawful.
The money at the center of the litigation is part of the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal stimulus bill passed by U.S. Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It funded education-related programs that support states’ school systems and help vulnerable students, according to a press release issued May 9 by the Delaware Department of Justice.
Funding under the stimulus bill remained available to states to use for local education under extensions granted by the federal government since the end of the pandemic. The Department of Education’s March order ended those extensions, cutting off funding that school districts had already budgeted.
A spokesperson for Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said the total funds for Delaware implicated by the order and lawsuit totaled $43.2 million.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon prepares for a television interview at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025.
A judge in the case on May 6 issued a preliminary injunction preventing the blocking of the funding while the parties litigate whether the Trump administration’s order was lawful, according to the order.
The lawsuit is one of many that Delaware has joined in targeting the Trump administration’s actions.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Education funding cuts by Trump administration blocked by judge