Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in securing an agreement with the Trump administration to prevent it from withholding federal funding from state and local education agencies that refuse to abandon lawful programs and policies that promote equal access to education in K-12 classrooms across the nation.

“Our educational agencies cannot be expected to comply with illegal and appalling attacks on equal access to learning for our students,” said Attorney General Nessel. “I am relieved that the Trump administration abandoned its attempt to withhold vital education funding after we filed our lawsuit. Time and again, my colleagues and I have had to intervene to stop unlawful federal actions. Without those interventions, billions of dollars would be wrongfully taken from residents in Michigan and across the country, and I remain committed to protecting the resources our students, families, and communities depend on.”

On April 3, the U.S. Department of Education informed state and local agencies that they must sign a document setting forth the Trump administration’s new interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or else risk immediate and catastrophic loss of federal education funds.

Michigan, like many other states, acknowledged that it does and will comply with federal nondiscrimination statutes, regulations, and case law, but refused to certify its compliance with the Department’s new requirements, as there is no lawful or practical way to do so given the Department’s vague, contradictory, and unsupported interpretation of Title VI.

On April 25, 2025, Attorney General Nessel and a multistate coalition filed a lawsuit asserting that the Department’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 Procedure Act. A complementary lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, American Federation of Teachers v. United States Department of Education, obtained an important victory vacating the April 3 certification request. That decision recently became final when the parties filed an agreement dismissing the administration’s appeal.

This agreement resolves this lawsuit and secures the critical commitment from the administration to apply the relief obtained in the American Federation of Teachers lawsuit to schools in Michigan. It prevents the administration from withholding any funding based on these unlawful conditions.

The agreement protects more than $1 billion in congressionally mandated financial support that the Department provides to Michigan each year for a wide variety of needs related to children and education. This funding further includes financial support to ensure that students from low-income families have the same access to high-quality education as their peers; 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.

Joining Attorney General Nessel in signing this agreement are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.