President Donald Trump has set a dizzying pace with his rollout of education policies since returning to the White House—with his detractors frequently trying to stall his aggressive maneuvers through litigation.
As of April 7, Education Week has identified 21 lawsuits that challenge either Trump administration education policies or broader policies from the administration that affect education.
The chart below details each of those lawsuits and their status as they make their way through the courts. Click here for a glossary of the policies the lawsuits are challenging. Have we missed a lawsuit here or a development in one of these cases? Let us know by contacting library@educationweek.org.
A glossary of policies lawsuits are challenging
Funding freeze: The Trump administration early in its second week ordered a pause on the disbursement of most federal financial assistance and told agencies to review their grant programs to determine whether they conformed with the president’s executive orders signed when he took office. Read about confusion stemming from the funding freeze.
DEI executive orders: First-day orders from Trump instructed federal agencies to end diversity-, equity-, and inclusion-related contracts and take other measures to end federal DEI programs and initiatives. Anti-DEI orders have been the basis for the cancellation of Education Department contracts and grants funding research, data collection, teacher prep, and technical assistance efforts as well as an earlier federal funding freeze. Read about one round of contract cancellations.
DOGE data access: Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency were reportedly looking at private information maintained by federal agencies, including the Education Department through its national student loan database. Read more.
Immigration enforcement: In his first days as president, Trump overturned a federal memo that for more than a decade had prevented immigration officials from making arrests on school properties. It was within his executive power to overturn the memo, but educators and advocates feared what effect it would have on school attendance. Read more about the policy.
Transgender athletes: Trump signed a Feb. 5 executive order to pull federal funding from any school or university that allowed trans athletes to compete alongside cisgender girls. He’s also made it official U.S. policy that there are only two sexes. Read more.
Dear Colleague letter: The Education Department issued a letter on Feb. 14 telling school districts and universities they had two weeks to end all race-based programming or risk losing their federal funding—its biggest foray into influencing curriculum. The department later followed up with a “frequently asked questions” document and a portal soliciting reports of DEI activities in schools. Read more.
Teacher-prep grant terminations: The Education Department in February suddenly terminated grants awarded under key teacher-training programs authorized by Congress, saying they no longer fulfilled department priorities. The cancellations came as part of administration efforts to eliminate spending it categorized as DEI. Read more.
Probationary employee firings: The Trump administration dismissed tens of thousands of federal employees on probationary status in February as part of its efforts to shrink the federal workforce. Dozens of these employees worked in the Education Department.
Education Department layoffs: Education Secretary Linda McMahon in March announced the Education Department was nearly halving its workforce as a “first step” toward eliminating the agency. Read more about the effects of these dismissals.
Student loan repayment: The Education Department shut down income-driven student loan repayment plans, and made it more difficult for loans to be forgiven under Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which expanded under former President Joe Biden. The department on March 26 said it had reopened income-driven repayment.
Education Department executive order: Trump on March 20 signed an executive order telling McMahon to “facilitate” the department’s closure, a move that only Congress can approve. He’s also said he intends to move special education oversight to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and student loan management to the Small Business Administration. Read more.
Columbia University funding cuts: The Trump administration swiftly terminated $400 million in federal contracts and grants with Columbia University in early March over claims of antisemitic harassment on campus. Columbia has since agreed to some changes sought by the administration. Read about what these funding cuts could mean for school districts.
Education research cuts: The Trump administration in early February swiftly terminated dozens of contracts for education research and data collection that contributed to well-known functions of the Institute of Education Sciences, the Education Department’s independent research arm. The contracts funded the Common Core of Data (the primary database of K-12 public schools), long-term studies examining educational outcomes, surveys on school crime, a tool that helps educators sift through curriculum research, and more. A later round of contract cancellations hit all 10 regional education laboratories that provide states and districts with technical assistance. In addition to the contract terminations, Education Department staff cuts have resulted in the elimination of about 90 percent of Institute of Education Sciences staff. Read about these cuts’ long-term effects.
Maine funding freeze: On April 2, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she was freezing “Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools.” It was the latest attempt from the Trump administration to use federal funds as leverage to force Maine to change a policy that allows transgender athletes to compete on girls’ athletic teams, which runs contrary to the president’s February executive order on transgender athletes. During a Feb. 21 White House luncheon, Trump called Maine Gov. Janet Mills out directly for the policy, telling her she’d better comply “because you’re not gonna get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” Mills’ responded that the state was following state and federal law and that she would “see you in court.” In rapid succession, the Education, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture departments launched investigations into Maine’s education department, a school district, and the state body that oversees school athletics. The Education and Health and Human Services departments have since said Maine is violating Title IX. Read more about Maine’s defiance of Trump.
