Overview:
The AFT and Brighton Park Neighborhood Council are suing the U.S. Department of Education for terminating more than $60 million in Full-Service Community School grants, alleging the cuts violate federal law and undermine critical wraparound services for students in high-poverty communities.
The AFT and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) filed a lawsuit ( Brighton Park Neighborhood Council et al. v. McMahon et al.) on December 29 challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to terminate millions of dollars in funding for Full-Service Community Schools that offer wrap-around services for some of the country’s most impoverished and rural communities.
The lawsuit explains that, despite strong performance by grantees and clear congressional direction, the Department of Education cut off funding, resulting in more than $60 million in congressionally appropriated funds that expired on December 31, 2025.
“We at BPNC were shocked and dismayed to learn of the termination of our FSCS grant with ACT Now and Chicago Public Schools. We have been diligently working in partnership with Curie High School and Chicago Public Schools to implement the highest quality after-school programs and services for all students and community members. We believe that our partnership with Chicago Public Schools and ACT Now advanced the stated mission of the U.S. Department of Education Full Service Community School grant to support low-income students and families in our community, to ensure their access to high-quality afterschool academic support, and to provide technical and career support to help mold the workforce of the future,” said Patrick Brosnan, Executive Director of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council. “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,”
Full-Service Community Schools provide wraparound services—including social, health, nutrition, and mental health support, and family resources—particularly in high-poverty and rural areas. For decades, Congress has approved multi-year grants to schools based on their performance. The complaint alleges that the Department, under the Trump-Vance administration, has abandoned that established process and replaced it with newly created policy preferences that were never adopted through lawful rulemaking.
The plaintiffs argue that the Department’s actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act, federal education law, and Congress’s direction to the agency to use the funds it appropriated to fund community schools.
“We at BPNC were shocked and dismayed to learn of the termination of our FSCS grant with ACT Now and Chicago Public Schools. We have been diligently working in partnership with Curie High School and Chicago Public Schools to implement the highest quality after-school programs and services for all students and community members. We believe that our partnership with Chicago Public Schools and ACT Now advanced the stated mission of the U.S. Department of Education Full Service Community School grant to support low-income students and families in our community, to ensure their access to high-quality afterschool academic support, and to provide technical and career support to help mold the workforce of the future,” said Patrick Brosnan, Executive Director of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council. “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.”
Currently, 253 active cases are challenging Trump administration actions, including any district court suits and appeals arising from the original suit, treated as a single case during his second term.
The AFT has been party to at least 70 of the lawsuits with a focus on school funding, student debt relief and policy changes.
“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,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “From cutting summer school and after school programs last June, to deep Medicaid and SNAP cuts, to now gutting community school grants in the middle of a school year, her actions are only hurting young people and increasing stress and anxiety for hundreds of thousands of families. Here, there was no communication with districts or even a request to ask for modifications–these grants were simply terminated on a whim. They fund crucial medical, dental, nutrition, after school tutoring, and enrichment programs that increase academic achievement and attendance, boost high school graduation rates, and reduce achievement gaps. And the data show that for every dollar spent on community schools, there is a $7 return on investment.
“For a secretary who claims she’s concerned about achievement and attendance, why terminate a program that boosts both? And for a 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?”
Randi weingarten, aft president
