San Francisco schools win temporary restraining order over feds’ threats to cut funding

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge Monday night granted the San Francisco Unified School District a temporary restraining order against AmeriCorps in another saga arising from the Trump administration’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

At a hearing last week, Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, a Barack Obama appointee, said that he believed he had jurisdiction and was likely to grant the restraining order after the school district claimed that AmeriCorps, a federal agency that oversees grants and funding for vulnerable populations, threatened to withhold federal funding because President Donald Trump declared that the schools in the district support diversity, equity and inclusion.

In Chen’s order Monday night, he wrote he believed the balance of hardships favored the plaintiffs, who argued that they feared their future funding would be taken away and they would have to cut programs that serve LGBTQ students, or programs that discuss race.

“Plaintiffs are likely to suffer irreparable harm from ongoing threat of a loss of funding for non-compliance, particularly where the mandated conditions for compliance appear at this juncture to be unclear. In its directive, AmeriCorps gave recipients three clear options: certify compliance, amend awards to be able to certify compliance, or relinquish awards,” Chen wrote. “Plaintiffs argue that losing funding is not a viable option and defendants have failed to unconditionally guarantee that they will not pull plaintiffs’ funding for non-compliance during the period of the requested TRO.”

Chen also wrote that the directive from AmeriCorps was vague, agreeing with an argument that the school district repeatedly hammered home at last week’s hearing.

“Moreover, confusion about the new conditions, particularly regarding which activities are ‘non-compliant’ because they ‘promote DEI’, harms plaintiffs because they do not know how to come into compliance with the AmeriCorps directive,” Chen wrote.

The restraining order is in effect until a preliminary injunction hearing set for April 15. Until then, Americorps cannot modify or disturb any previously awarded grants to the school district, Chen wrote.

According to the school district’s complaint filed in March, AmeriCorps issued a directive on Feb. 13 to the school district to stop all grant activities that “promote DEI” and get in line with Trump’s positions on DEI and climate change or have their funding taken away.

“Specifically, AmeriCorps gave recipients, including plaintiffs, just a few days to either change their programs to eliminate any activities that promote DEI, promote ‘gender ideology,’ or address climate change or other environmental issues — without explaining what that means — or lose their AmeriCorps grants entirely," the school district said in its complaint.

The school district said the directive to withhold funding violates the spending clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act and added that the government was attempting to coerce the school district to adopt the same policies as the Trump administration.

The government called the school district’s argument speculative, said that there was no proof or suggestion that funds would be cut if the school district continued with its programs, and said there were no claims in court documents that a student group was not able to meet or that student services were not able to be delivered because of AmeriCorps’ directive.

The school district receives nearly $700,000 from AmeriCorps annually, which it primarily uses to tutor vulnerable students at 38 public schools in the district. When the district filed the lawsuit, Superintendent Maria Su said the money from AmeriCorps was integral to supporting vital programs and preserving resources for the district, which was already planning to lay off teachers to address a $113 million deficit.

The school district is being represented in court by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s office, which blasted AmeriCorps’ attempt to withhold the funding when the suit was filed.

“President Trump cannot hold our kids and seniors hostage to force people to agree with him,” Chiu said at the time.

The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, joined the San Francisco Unified School District in the lawsuit and said it would need to eliminate programs for seniors and children if AmeriCorps funding is taken away.

Attorneys for the parties in the dispute did not immediately respond to requests for comment.