WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 U.S. states filed a lawsuit on Monday in a federal court in Rhode Island, demanding that the Trump administration release approximately 6.8 billion U.S. dollars in federal funding for education.

According to the lawsuit, the federal funds were originally intended to support the education of migrant farm workers and their children, teacher recruitment and training, English proficiency learning, academic enrichment, after-school and summer programs, as well as adult literacy and job-readiness training.

The lawsuit said the government was required to distribute the funds to the states by July 1. Instead, the Education Department notified states on June 30 that it would not be issuing grant awards under those programs by that deadline, citing the change in administration as the reason.

The plaintiffs said the Trump administration froze the funding without providing sufficient justification, causing significant disruption to school operations and forcing many summer and after-school programs to be canceled or placed at risk.

The White House Office of Management and Budget stated that the education grants are under an "ongoing programmatic review." ■