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New York City has filed a lawsuit to restore $47 million in grant funding the Trump administration yanked from schools because city officials refused to scrap policies that protect transgender students.
In cancelling the grants issued through the U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet School Assistance Program, the federal government put “politics before public schools,” claimed the complaint filed Wednesday in federal court.
“The Department’s unprecedented actions — undertaken without notice, investigation, hearing, or opportunity to respond, and without a valid substantive basis — represent a blatant attempt to avoid the exacting process required by law,” the lawsuit stated.
The magnet grant funding supports 19 schools across the city and is designed to help spur racial integration by launching a range of new programs, including in journalism, math, science, performing arts, and civic activism, according to the complaint. Grants for school districts in Chicago and Fairfax, Virginia, were also canceled.
The grant cancellation marked the first known attempt by the Trump administration to revoke funding for the city’s public schools because of its contested interpretation of civil rights laws. The lawsuit notes that the feds had routinely signed off on the city’s compliance with federal law in past years and appeared to be using the grants as leverage to pressure the city on unrelated policies designed to protect trans students.
Officials for the U.S. Education Department said the lawsuit did not have merit. They reiterated the administration’s position that the grant could not be certified because the city’s policies allowing transgender students to use facilities in line with their gender identity violate Title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination at educational institutions receiving federal funding. The Trump administration has mounted an aggressive push to roll back protections for transgender students and has targeted districts in Virginia, Colorado, and Illinois.
The city’s legal challenge is notable because Mayor Eric Adams previously signaled that he agreed with the Trump administration’s position that the city’s protections go too far. After federal officials threatened to cancel the grant funding, Adams railed against city policies that allow transgender students to use bathrooms and participate in sports teams in accordance with their gender identity.
A press release from City Hall announcing the lawsuit included a statement from the schools chancellor and the city’s top lawyer, but not the mayor. (City Hall spokesperson Zachary Nosanchuk noted that the mayor posted on X in support of the case.)
“While many talk about change, the Adams administration has always been about real, meaningful action — which means challenging the federal government’s unfair, illegal, and actually impossible demand for New York City Public Schools to change a state law,” Nosanchuk said in a statement.
The fight over the funding began a month ago, when the federal government threatened to withhold funding over Title IX violations, giving the city a week to agree to adopting “biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female.’”
The city asked for more time, but Trump administration officials said they needed to certify compliance before its fiscal year ended on Sept. 30. When the city did not meet the deadline to overhaul its policies, the federal government announced it would not release the grant money.
City lawyers contend that the Trump administration failed to follow rules for revoking funding under Title IX, including offering an opportunity for a hearing, communicating findings on the record, and filing reports with congress.
“Department actions are a clear attempted end run around the Congressional directive that school funding not be pulled on a whim,” the suit claims. It asks the court to restore the $47 million grant and block the Trump administration from canceling it in the future.
Roughly 7,700 New York City students attend the affected schools, which are predominantly Black and Latino, according to the suit. City officials previously said about 8,500 students would be affected; a spokesperson did not explain the discrepancy.
The mayor’s desire to rethink the city’s policies on transgender students drew fresh attention to his ties to the Trump administration, which has reportedly considered offering him a job. Last year, the Justice Department successfully pressed federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Adams.
This week, the mayor said he is mulling three “dream jobs,” though he has not said what they are.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
