Education groups sue for access to nearly $2B in research funds

Dive Brief:

A coalition of disability and education organizations sued the federal government Tuesday over what it says are withheld funds from the U.S. Department of Education for education research, data collection, program evaluation and assistance to states and school districts.
The complaint claims the federal government is failing to provide nearly $2 billion in funding for education research that was appropriated by Congress.
The government’s withholding or failure to “apportion” these funds will impact all students, including those with disabilities, as researchers, schools and families have less access to research-based guidance and information for effective practices, according to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.

Dive Insight:

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the Education Department and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. It alleges that the failure of the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences and OMB to provide funding for grants and contracts violates the Administrative Procedures Act, the Antideficiency Act and the constitutional separation of powers. 

The plaintiffs are asking the court to ensure that congressionally appropriated funds are made available for spending.

In a statement Wednesday, an Education Department spokesperson said, “The Department is committed to using appropriated funds to meet our statutory obligations while supporting high-quality research.”

OMB did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit in time for publication.

The lawsuit said that the $1.9 billion in withheld education research funds were allocated by Congress for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 and will expire later this year and in 2027. Some of the affected programs within IES, according to the lawsuit, include the National Center for Education Statistics, National Center for Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research.

Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said her organization relies on data collected by IES for its State of Learning Disabilities report. 

That report, which is published about every three years, includes information about how general and special educators are serving students with learning disabilities. That includes identified gaps in services and professional learning experiences and how those gaps are being addressed, said Rodriguez, adding that no other nationwide data collection is similar to what IES provides. 

“We cannot educate the public on kids with learning disabilities without the data coming from IES,” Rodriguez said. 

She emphasized that all students, not just students with disabilities, can benefit from the research gathered by IES that informs best practices. “Every kid is going to be in jeopardy of not having their data and their outcomes collected in a timely fashion.”

The lawsuit also challenges a federal grantmaking process that requires competitive grants to comply with certain Trump administration priorities, including an executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in federal activities and spending.

Rodriguez said the consideration by parents and educators of a student with disabilities’ least restrictive environment — or a student’s inclusion in general education classrooms — is a congressionally mandated requirement within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the nation’s special education law.

“The inability for research to look at inclusion is not only counterproductive to the nation’s progress and to every student’s positive outcomes, it’s also in contradiction to what IDEA as a law requires of schools,” she said.

Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Knowledge Alliance and the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

The Education Department has been under pressure to release funds appropriated for education research. In May, K-12 and college organizations, as well as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, sent separate letters to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, asking the Education Department to release about $300 million appropriated for education funding in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

At the time, a department spokesperson told K-12 Dive that it is “committed to using appropriated funds to meet our statutory obligations while supporting high-quality research.”