Representatives Lofgren, Torres, Jacobs, and Tran Lead Entire CA Democratic Delegation in Demanding Immediate Release of $928 Million Education Funding Owed to California

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation (CA-18), Norma Torres (CA-35), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Derek Tran (CA-45), and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-CA) led the entire California Democratic Congressional Delegation in demanding the Department of Education (ED) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) immediately release nearly $7 billion in Congressionally-appropriated funding for K-12 schools and adult education – including $928 million owed to California.

With the start of the new school year approaching in California, on June 30, 2025, the Trump Administration gave states just one day’s notice that these critical funds would be indefinitely frozen past their typical release on July 1. As a result, California schools are already being forced to roll back programs, lay off staff, and cut services that help students thrive.

“These programs support some of the most vulnerable and underserved students and communities in California and have been demonstrated to have lifelong benefits to students’ educational attainment, income, and other measures of wellbeing. Each passing day that these funds are unlawfully withheld hurts our schools and students and strains already limited budgets,” said the members. “In California alone, the Trump Administration’s funding freeze is affecting hundreds of thousands of students and educators. For many of California’s school districts, this funding had already been accounted for in school budgets for the upcoming school year. Now, our schools are being forced to delay hiring and reduce resources to help students.”

The withheld funding includes vital investments in:

• Reducing class sizes and teacher recruitment and retention, especially in underserved areas.
• After-school, before-school, and summer learning programs in low-income communities.
• School-based mental health services, accelerated learning courses, STEM education, and college and career counseling.
• Academic Support for English learners and children of migrant workers.
• Adult education and workforce readiness programs.

With nearly 5.8 million K-12 students in California, the illegal freezing of these Congressionally appropriated funds is already hurting our schools and students. Many school districts had already budgeted for these federal dollars, leaving them scrambling to fill massive funding gaps just weeks before the school year begins.

“We demand that the Department of Education and the Trump Administration stop holding K-12 student funding hostage and release the nearly $7 billion in funding meant to help our students, teachers, and families, including the $928 million being unlawfully withheld from California,” the members continued. “This illegal freeze in funding is setting our students and schools up for failure. Our teachers, families, and children deserve better than the Trump Administration’s reckless upheaval and chaos.”

Additional signers of the letter include: Reps. Pete Aguilar (CA-33); Nanette Barragán (CA-44); Ami Bera (CA-6); Julia Brownley (CA-26); Salud Carbajal (CA-24); Judy Chu (CA-28); Gilbert Cisneros (CA-31); Lou Correa (CA-46); Jim Costa (CA-21); Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10); Laura Friedman (CA-30); John Garamendi (CA-8); Robert Garcia (CA-42); Jimmy Gomez (CA-34); Adam Gray (CA-13); Josh Harder (CA-9); Jared Huffman (CA-2); Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37); Ro Khanna (CA-17); Mike Levin (CA-49); Sam Liccardo (CA-16); Ted Lieu (CA-36); Doris Matsui (CA-7); Dave Min (CA-47); Kevin Mullin (CA-15); Jimmy Panetta (CA-19); Nancy Pelosi (CA-11); Scott Peters (CA-50); Luz Rivas (CA-29); Raul Ruiz (CA-25); Linda Sánchez (CA-38); Brad Sherman (CA-32); Lateefah Simon (CA-12); Eric Swalwell (CA-14); Mark Takano (CA-39); Mike Thompson (CA-4); Juan Vargas (CA-52); Maxine Waters (CA-43); George Whitesides (CA-27).

The text of the resolution can be found here.

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