By Alvin Buyinza

(WIB) – A Chicago nonprofit organization and an influential teachers’ union have sued the Trump administration, accusing it of illegally cutting off over $60 million in wraparound services for community schools, a move that blocks students from rural and low-income communities from receiving academic, emotional, and social supports, according to a lawsuit. 

The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 29 by the American Federation of Teachers and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, a nonprofit organization in southwestern Chicago, says that the Department of Education abruptly and unlawfully ended funding for 19 different grants from the Full-Service Community Schools program. The funds, which were set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025, would’ve provided social, health, nutrition, and mental health support for K-12 students and families in low-income and rural areas.

The plaintiffs claim that this move has voided funds that would have helped support students and their families. The Trump administration did not reply to Word In Black’s request for comment. 

Schools, Advocates Say Grant Cuts Harm Kids Badly

Both BPNC and the AFT will “suffer immense harm” from the Trump administration’s decision, according to the lawsuit. BPNC, which provides wraparound services at eight Chicago public schools, relies on $500,000 in federal funding. The organization uses the money to pay its staff and operating expenses. 

“We hope and pray that these necessary grant funds are restored, and we can continue to provide the needed services so that all students and families in our community can achieve their goals and thrive,” says Patrick Brosnan, Executive Director of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council in a press release. 

The AFT, which has 1.8 million members, represents teachers working in school districts nationwide that run programs funded by multi-year Full-Service Community School grants, according to the lawsuit. 

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The federal government has been providing multi-year grants based on a school’s performance for decades. But the lawsuit accuses the Trump administration and Education Secretary Linda McMahon of breaking this tradition and replacing it with new policy preferences that were never adopted lawfully. 

In a press release, AFT President Randi Weingarten declared that the  Department of Education “is not Linda McMahon’s personal plaything where she gets to decide what legally mandated functions stay or go or whether spending is allocated or not—and yet she repeatedly acts like it.”  says in a press release. 

“For a secretary who claims she’s concerned about achievement and attendance, why terminate a program that boosts both?” Weingarten said. “And for [an education] secretary who is crisscrossing the country talking about civics, why not simply follow the law and allocate the community school grants to the districts that have been counting on them?”