Press Statement  AG Campbell Releases Statement After Department Of Education Commits To Releasing Billions In Illegally Withheld Education Grants

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today issued the following statement after the Department of Education announced it would be releasing the vast majority of the $6.8 billion in education grants for six longstanding programs that it had previously withheld just weeks before the school year was set to begin. In Massachusetts, the freeze has impacted more than $107 million in funding for critical K-12 and adult education programs. 

"Faced with a lawsuit brought by 23 attorneys general and two governors, the Department of Education has rightly decided to release billions in critical funding, $107 million of which is allocated to Massachusetts, which it had no legal right to withhold in the first place. With that said, the chaos and confusion that this disruption has caused to our school districts, who were depending on this money to be released on July 1, cannot be undone,” said AG Campbell. “Our schools rely on this money to help students meet our education standards, promote effective classroom instruction, provide afterschool programming and extracurricular activities, and so much more. We will continue to hold the Trump Administration accountable when it violates our laws and harms our residents, including our children."