Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers joined fellow Democratic governors from a total of 18 states in demanding the Trump administration release $6.8 billion in education funding it has withheld, calling the decision "unacceptable" and "indefensible."
They made the demand in a letter sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said by email that Illinois is not able to make up the $241.8 million that the Trump administration is withholding from the state, and it shouldn't have to.
"The Trump administration is not only openly flouting the law, they are abandoning their responsibility to our students," Pritzker said in a statement. "This unprecedented and irresponsible withholding of lawful, bipartisan funding will force cuts to critical programs and hold back the next generation from reaching their full potential."
The letter said the withholding of funds is unprecedented and "disrupts school operations, undermines student services, and violates the (Education) Department's obligation to administer funding in a timely and responsible manner."
The Department of Education told states on June 30 that it refused to pay out grant awards approved by Congress following an internal review after the Trump administration took power.
"Schools and adult education providers in our states have built their budgets for the upcoming school year around these allocations, which are now left in limbo," the letter notes.
The Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
The $241.8 million for Illinois that was frozen includes funding for the mentoring of superintendents, English as a Second Language programming, technology and digital literacy enhancements, afterschool programming, basic literacy skills training, college and career readiness, adult civics education and migrant education.
The letter, which Pritzker led, according to a
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion, joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, that the majority handed the executive branch the power to repeal statutes passed by Congress "by firing all those necessary" to carry them out."
"The threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave," she wrote.
In addition to the Midwest governors, the governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Oregon and Washington also signed the letter.
