Plaintiffs, the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) and the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. They challenge the Department’s termination of six core research and data programs within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), including multiple longitudinal studies, the peer review grant program, and the processing of restricted-use data applications. Plaintiffs allege these actions are unlawful under the Education Sciences Reform Act and violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) as arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law, depriving researchers and the public of congressionally mandated education data and research opportunities. They seek declaratory and injunctive relief to compel reinstatement of the terminated programs, resume grant and data access processes, and prevent further unlawful disruption of IES’s statutory functions.
