Oregon Joins Lawsuit Against Trump Administration’s Threat to Cut K-12 School Funding Over DEI Programs

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield confirmed yesterday that the state has joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in a lawsuit filed that challenges the US 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 US.

Oregon AG Joins 19-State Challenge To Trump Administration Threat to K-12 Schools Funding

On April 3, 2025, the Trump Administration’s Department of Education instructed state and local agencies to accept its new—legally incoherent—interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Schools were threatened with immediate and catastrophic loss of federal education funds.

As did many US states, Oregon refused to certify compliance with these new requirements, indicating that there is no lawful or practical way to do so. The Department’s vague, contradictory, and unsupported interpretation of Title VI makes it impossible.

The new lawsuit, which follows after Oregon’s inclusion in a 16-state push to defend DEI and accessibility in schools in March, seeks to bar the Department from withholding any funding based on these unlawful conditions.

AG Rayfield said, “Title VI exists to protect students from discrimination, not to be used as a bargaining chip.”

The attorneys general of 18 states, from Hawaii to California on the west coast, across the US to New York on the east coast up to Vermont, are also part of the coalition.

Rayfield confirmed that the move isn’t about politics but instead seeks to ensure schools don’t lose funding for trying to create fair and welcoming environments for all students, particularly when Title VI exists to protect students from discrimination.

Oregon gets about $437 million in funding annually from the federal Department of Education, of which around $316 million remains for the 2024 fiscal year and includes:

• Financial aid to students from low-income families to ensure they 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
• Provide support to vulnerable children in foster care and without housing.

Rayfield said. “You don’t get to rewrite a civil rights law with an executive order.”