Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Second Update Regarding Impoundment of Federal Education Funds

We are reaching out to provide an important update to the field about federal education funds for the 2025–26 school year, following our July 1 communication about the impoundment of many federal education grants.

Today, California, along with multiple other states, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking immediate injunctive relief. The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s unlawful withholding of approximately $6.8 billion dollars in congressionally appropriated funds, including nearly $1 billion withheld from California alone—specifically, Title I-C, II-A, III-A, IV-A, and IV-B, as well as the Adult Basic Education Grants to States grant program and the Integrated English Language and Civics Education program.

The California Department of Education (CDE) is confident in the strength of California’s legal case, and we remain hopeful for a timely resolution. We will continue to keep you apprised of key developments in the case.

Our team will also continue to engage with our congressional delegation to ensure future federal funding for these programs in the fiscal year 2026 budget is secure and uninterrupted. We recognize that this is a stressful time, and we are grateful for your continued professionalism and public service as we work together to serve California’s students and educators.

We will continue to keep the field apprised of important information in response to federal actions related to public education. For a consolidated list of our responses to 2025 federal actions, please see the CDE 2025 Responses to Federal Actions web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/fa.

Sincerely,

David Schapira
Chief Deputy Superintendent
Chief of Staff

Ingrid Roberson
Chief Deputy Superintendent
California Department of Education