Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Take Back Pandemic-Era Relief Funds for Schools

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A U.S. District Court judge in New York on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to cancel more than $1 billion of previously approved pandemic-era relief funding to schools across the country.

The preliminary injunction issued by District Judge Edgardo Ramos prevents the U.S. Department of Education and its secretary, Linda McMahon, from recovering money “during the pendency of this litigation or until further order of the Court.”

Maryland had joined 15 states and the District of Columbia in the suit against the department and McMahon last month. The suit, filed April 10, followed a letter from McMahon that arrived in email inboxes at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 28, advising state school officials that any unspent COVID-19 federal recovery funds were being reclaimed immediately.

Most of the money in Maryland comes from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ARP ESSER, program. McMahon wrote that it didn’t make sense for the federal goverment to be awarding COVID-19 grants “years after the COVID pandemic ended.”

Maryland officials initially estimated that as much as $418 million could be at stake, the most of any state in the lawsuit. School officials announced last week, before the state Board of Education meeting, that the number is actuallly closer to $232.1 million, but the injunction was still welcome.

“COVID-19 may be over, but its impact is still being felt in schools across our State and nation, as reading and math scores remain lower than pre-pandemic levels and students continue to struggle with behavioral health issues since schools reopened,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) said in a statement Tuesday.

“This ruling preserves hundreds of millions of dollars for Maryland schools, allowing our educational leaders to continue giving their students the support they need and deserve,” Brown said.

A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday night.

The money is being used for various educational programs and school construction projects, ranging from tutoring and reading materials to the installation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The lawsuit highlighted several affected projects, such as Baltimore City Public Schools’ cancellation of tutoring and after-school programs. The school system hasn’t been reimbursed $48 million.

Besides D.C. and Maryland, others in the suit were Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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