Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced Monday that North Carolina is suing the U.S. Department of Education over its freeze of $165 million in education funding the state, a decision expected to affect more than 1,000 positions and various school programs.
The lawsuit, which was joined by 24 other states, targets the federal government’s decision to withhold more than $6.8 billion nationwide in public school funding.
Jackson announced the lawsuit alongside State Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis, warning that the cuts could disrupt after-school programs, mental health services and English language learning support just weeks before the new school year.
“Congress created these programs and authorized this funding,” Jackson said at a news conference. “The Department of Education does not have the authority to now withhold those funds, certainly not the night before they were set to arrive.”
“It was a three-sentence email [that] contained basically no detail, and simply said that ‘this money was going to be frozen until further notice,'” Jackson said. “Since then, they have been unwilling to answer our questions.
“If this is not addressed, the impacts will be severe and widespread.”
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to unblock the frozen grants.
Local school districts could face emergency measures such as hiring freezes or classroom consolidations, he said.
“These funds serve, directly and indirectly, hundreds of thousands of our students, including some of the most vulnerable,” said Green.
According to an analysis performed by the North Carolina Justice Center’s Education & Law Project, rural school districts would be disproportionately affected. Nine of the 10 hardest-hit districts by per-student funding cuts are in rural counties, with some districts facing losses of more than $300 per student. Counties still recovering from Hurricane Helene face a combined cut of approximately $18 million.
Mecklenburg County could lose more than $12.2 million, Wake County over $8 million, and Alamance, Guilford, Forsyth, Cumberland and other counties would each lose millions under the funding freeze.
“These funds are not discretionary. They are allocated specifically to support programs and personnel that are essential for providing a high-quality education to all students,” said Alamance-Burlington School Board Chair Sandy Ellington-Graves at the press conference.
“Withholding these funds directly undermines our ability to serve our growing population of multilingual learners,” Ellington-Graves said.
The lawsuit is joined by attorneys general from states including California, New York, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington, along with the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. It challenges what plaintiffs describe as an “unlawful and unconstitutional” decision by the Department of Education.
The Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal spending, has said that funding pause is related to a review of potential ideological content in some programs. State officials strongly dispute that justification, arguing that Congress already approved the funds and that students and educators should not be caught in the middle.
“The decision to freeze $165 million in federal funding is an unnecessary and irresponsible act against our children,” Davis said. “Educating our children should rise above politics.”
The lawsuit comes as North Carolina faces a continuing teacher shortage; nearly 9,000 teachers left the profession during the 2023–24 school year, according to state data.
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