The funds have already been allocated by Congress and budgeted by school districts for the upcoming school year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department will release some previously withheld grant money for after-school programs, days after 10 Republican senators sent a letter imploring the Office of Management and Budget to allow the funds to be sent to states.

California colleges since 1995 have received more than $600 million in federal grants through the Hispanic Serving Institutions program. A lawsuit challenging the program could put the future of that funding in peril.

The lawsuit was deemed a class-action petition representing about 300 non-classroom-based charter schools across California that enrolled about 200,000 students, said Lee Rosenberg, attorney for ...