{"id":1534598,"date":"2025-05-07T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1534598"},"modified":"2025-05-07T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T16:45:00","slug":"judge-blocks-department-of-education-from-canceling-covid-related-school-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/judge-blocks-department-of-education-from-canceling-covid-related-school-aid\/1534598\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Department Of Education From Canceling COVID-Related School Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Blocks Department Of Education From Canceling COVID-Related School Aid<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A federal judge on May 6 blocked the U.S. Department of Education from canceling more than $1 billion in funding that was allocated to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary schools and students.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos entered<\/a> a preliminary injunction that prohibits the Department of Education from enforcing its recission of extensions for the funding that had been granted in January by the prior administration.<\/p>\n

Education officials also cannot modify the previously-approved extensions without giving the states at least 14 days notice, the judge said.<\/p>\n

Congress allocated funds to states to distribute to schools to address problems stemming from the pandemic. The more than $276 billion was distributed to states through an education stabilization fund. Under laws passed by Congress, states had until Sept. 30, 2024, to designate the money, and until Jan. 28, 2025, to access funds to achieve the designations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

States could ask for extensions for the latter deadline, and a number did so. The Department of Education granted extensions to at least 16 states, and Washington, enabling them to access the money through March 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Education Secretary Linda McMahon informed<\/a> the states in March that the extensions were being rescinded because additional review had determined they were \u201cnot justified\u201d in part because the pandemic is over,<\/strong> although the states could reapply for extensions.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs\u2014New York, Oregon, 13 other states, Washington, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2014said that they were facing being cut off from more than $1 billion if a preliminary injunction was not entered.<\/p>\n

In a memorandum in support of their motion for an injunction, they said<\/a> that the Department of Education\u2019s shift with regards to the extension requests was arbitrary and capricious, in violation of federal law. The change \u201cassumes incorrectly that all [the] appropriations were intended only for use during the pandemic\u201d and \u201clacks any reasoned explanation,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the government said in response that the actions were not arbitrary and capricious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department\u2019s actions are not arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law because recission of the prior extension was within the Department\u2019s discretion and did not conflict with the relevant appropriations statutes,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>they said<\/a> in a brief.<\/p>\n

The lawyers also said that the plaintiffs would not be irreparably harmed absent an injunction because they can still reapply for a fresh extension, but have chosen not to do so.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice, which represents agencies in court, did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling by publication time.<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said<\/a> in a statement that \u201cthis is a major win for our students and teachers who are counting on this funding to help them succeed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 05\/07\/2025 – 08:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/judge-blocks-department-education-canceling-covid-related-school-aid<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge Blocks Department Of Education From Canceling COVID-Related School Aid Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on May 6 blocked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1534599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6rdA","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/image20-202025-05-07T054019.880-j3ltfe.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1534598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1534599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1534598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1534598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1534598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}