New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez spoke with reporters on Wednesday about his and 22 states attorney generals’ lawsuit against the Trump administration over education funding. Next to Torrez is Bill Rodriguez, who directs the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program at Santa Fe Public Schools. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia on Monday afternoon filed a lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island asking a judge to order the Trump administration to lift a freeze on $7 billion meant for K-12 and adult education.
GOP members of US Senate protest Trump freeze of $6.8B in school funding
The money comes to the states through seven different federal grant programs meant for student learning and achievement; after-school programs; teacher training; and adult education and literacy.
At a news conference with public school officials in Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon, Torrez said the funding freeze undermines not only education, but also public safety in the long run.
“What happens to the kids who no longer have high-quality educational support in the summer?” Torrez asked. “All of that impacts their ability to succeed in the education system and makes them far more likely to end up in the criminal justice system.”
Bill Rodriguez, who directs the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program at Santa Fe Public Schools, said approximately 60 after-school staff in the state’s capital serve 700 families and their students in 13 elementary and K-8 schools. Those workers are asking if they should start looking for new jobs, he said.
“Without the program, students’ academic growth could be impacted, and parents may be faced with making the difficult decision to leave their children at home alone, or being watched by older siblings after school,” Rodriguez said.
According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Education Department has approved New Mexico’s grant funding plan since 2015, most recently on April 25, and state officials and school districts expected to receive more than $44 million on July 1.
Schools weren’t notified of the freeze until the day before that deadline on June 30, giving them almost no time to mitigate its impacts on families, school employees and children, said Peter McWain, executive director of curriculum and instruction at Santa Fe Public Schools.
“Without 21st Century funding, districts like Santa Fe Public Schools cannot give reasonable assurance of 21st Century after-school programming for this coming school year,” McWain said. “21st Century programming supports children who, without this funding, have nowhere else to go.”
Kristie Medina, superintendent for Raton Public Schools in rural northeastern New Mexico, said the freeze will have a direct and devastating impact on students in her district and across the state.
“In New Mexico, where many students live in rural, low-income, multi-lingual communities, these funds are not extra, they’re very essential to each and every community,” Medina said.
Torrez said he finds it ironic that Trump issued an executive order seeking to make English the official language of the United States, and yet cut support for students who want to learn English.
“They want to more fully participate in the American Dream and in American society, and making these kinds of cuts will have a dramatic impact on their ability to do that,” he said.
The lawsuit notes that the New Mexico Constitution requires the state government to provide funding so that teachers can be trained to be proficient in both English and Spanish, and have the ability to teach English.
It also points out that state law makes it a goal for New Mexico’s public schools to make all students, including English language learners, bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language, either Spanish or a Native American language.
All three of New Mexico’s representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives last week asked the Trump administration to lift the freeze, including Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who himself was an English language learner.
Trump administration withholding $44M in education funding from New Mexico
Ian Gates, with the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network, urged the state Public Education Department to find funding to continue to support 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
Gates said New Mexico allocated $15 million to after-school programs in its annual budget during the most recent legislative session, and “we know that approximately $5 million has not been allocated” to programs in the department’s Community Schools Bureau.
“These $5 million could be a lifeline for 21st Century Community Learning Centers that have been defunded,” Gates said. “We urge the Secretary of Education to identify the additional $5 million if this crisis continues to ensure that students and families have a safe and engaging place after 3 p.m.”
Source NM asked a spokesperson for the Public Education Department for comment and will update this story as needed.
The other states suing the Trump administration over the education freeze include Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin; along with the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit points to eight other times in the last half year that federal courts have blocked the Trump administration from unilaterally freezing or withholding other kinds of federal funds, and asks the court to do the same here.
Alongside the lawsuit, the states also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would allow temporary relief while the lawsuit plays out. Torrez said a hearing on that motion has not yet been scheduled, and his office anticipates that will happen sometime in the next week.
If the states prevail in that hearing, Torrez said, the court would order the administration not to cut the funding and the status quo would remain.
“Finding quality help to make sure and childcare and after school programs that weighs on every parent’s mind,” he said. “How are you going to go and find out where your child is going to be in a way that’s safe, where they’re learning something? I’m trying to bring at least some reassurance to those families and those educators within the next several weeks, but this is something that is going to impact everybody.”
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