Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield today, as part of a coalition of 19 attorneys general, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s threat to withhold federal funding from state and local agencies that refuse to abandon lawful programs and policies that promote equal access to education in K-12 classrooms across the nation.
On April 3, 2025, the Department of Education informed state and local agencies that they must accept the Trump Administration’s new and legally incoherent interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — or else risk immediate and catastrophic loss of federal education funds. Oregon, like many other states, refused to certify its compliance with these new requirements, explaining that there is no lawful or practical way to do so given the Department’s vague, contradictory, and unsupported interpretation of Title VI. In filing today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Rayfield and the coalition seek to bar the Department from withholding any funding based on these unlawful conditions.
“This isn’t about politics – it’s about making sure schools don’t lose funding just for trying to create fair and welcoming environments for all students,” Rayfield said. “You don’t get to rewrite a civil rights law with an executive order. Title VI exists to protect students from discrimination, not to be used as a bargaining chip.”
The U.S. Department of Education provides around $437 million to Oregon in annual federal funding, with approximately $316 million remaining for the 2024 fiscal year. This funding includes financial support to ensure that students from low-income families have the same access to high-quality education as their peers, provide special education services, recruit and train highly skilled and dedicated teachers, fund programming for non-native speakers to learn English, and provide support to vulnerable children in foster care and without housing.
As a condition of receiving these funds, state and local education agencies provide written assurances they will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin, and Oregon has consistently and regularly certified its compliance with Title VI and its implementing regulations.
However, on April 3, the Department of Education issued a letter that conditioned continued federal financial assistance on state and local education agencies certifying that they are not operating programs inconsistent with the Trump Administration’s view that efforts supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion are unlawful.
In the lawsuit, Attorney General Rayfield and the multistate coalition assert that the Department of Education’s attempt to terminate federal education funding based on its misinterpretation of Title VI violates the Spending Clause, the Appropriations Clause, the separation of powers, and the Administrative Procedures Act.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
