Trump cuts hit three local school districts

Yahoo

03-04-2025

State and local education leaders say their districts are 'in limbo' after the Trump administration froze millions of dollars in pandemic-relief aid that was previously approved for schools.
Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker told the State Board of Education Wednesday that Connecticut is expected to lose $15 million from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund after U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced in a letter Friday that the deadline to expend the funds had expired.
The state Department of Education said the decision would strip $9 million from the state-level programs and $6 million from 22 districts, including more than $1.9 million from New London public schools, $99,000 from Montville and $144,000 from Putnam.
In February, the Trump administration granted extensions authorizing ESSER expenditures through March 28, 2026.
On Friday, McMahon said the extension 'was not justified.'
'Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department's priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion,' McMahon wrote.
McMahon added that 'the extension was a matter of administrative grace' and that grantees 'could not rely on the Department adhering to its original decision.'
'The extension approval was issued recently, so any reliance interests developed are minimal,' McMahon wrote.
Without the funds, Putnam Superintendent Steven Rioux said his district will 'have to scramble next year.'
Rioux explained that Putnam used a portion of its ESSER funds to purchase a new K-6 reading curriculum. As part of the program, Rioux said the district entered into a three-year professional development contract with the American Reading Company. The $144,000 was reserved for next year's portion of the contract.
While Rioux cautioned that it is 'too early to make any definitive decisions yet,' he said the district would likely need to cut some of its professional development and cancel replacements for student supplies — including workbooks and other curriculum materials — if the federal funding is not recovered or supplanted with state dollars.
In an email, Montville Superintendent Dianne Vumback wrote, 'Our funds were used primarily for consulting services, executive coaching, professional development and student supports. Losing this funding can have significant and widespread effects, impacting everything from academic programming to staffing and student support services.'
New London Board of Education President Elaine Maynard-Adams on Wednesday said the district has roughly $1.9 million in unspent ESSER funds that were largely set aside for student transportation costs and a bilingual tutoring program.
Maynard-Adams said the district had spent 50% of those funds and was in the process of securing a reimbursement when McMahon's directive came down Friday.
'The way it works is we cover the costs and get reimbursed through the state's eGrant management system,' she said Wednesday. 'For instance, on Monday we were able to submit a drawback for $500,000 in reimbursable funds — which was a good sign — but, as of yesterday, still didn't know if we'd get that money back.'
Maynard-Adams said McMahon's letter reasserting an original March 25, 2025, ESSER spending deadline from a March 2026 extension date was particularly galling, in both its content and timing.
'We were basically told you needed to have spent that money yesterday,' she said.
Funding 'in limbo'
Maynard-Adams said she was told the State Department of Education was slated Monday to have a conference call with federal education counterparts to get some clarity about the ESSER issue.
'But I still haven't heard what happened, or if there was even a meeting,' she said. 'We're essentially in limbo.'
Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker told the State Board of Education Wednesday that U.S. Department of Education staff canceled that meeting, citing the need for 'more guidance from their agency.'
Russell-Tucker said the department is still awaiting word on when the meeting will be rescheduled. She said Connecticut will join a nationwide webinar with U.S. Department of Education officials on Thursday, where they expect 'further information and guidance' on the resubmission process.
Russell-Tucker said the departments had planned the now-canceled meeting before McMahon issued the letter announcing the funding freeze.
In the letter, McMahon said the U.S. Department of Education would consider liquidation extensions that would unfreeze the funds on 'an individual project-specific basis' based, in part, on how necessary the funding is to 'mitigate the effects of COVID on American student's education.'
In a message to local superintendents, the State Department of Education said it would 'rigorously advocate for … each and every project that was previously approved' by the federal agency in February.
When asked by a State Board of Education member about how the department would respond if Connecticut could not recover the funds, Russell-Tucker said the State Department of Education is talking with Gov. Ned Lamont's office and the Office of Policy and Management 'on a daily basis.'
In a joint statement Friday, Lamont, Connecticut Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and Speaker of the House Matt Ritter said they would work to protect the state's 'most essential programs.'
'No state can restore every cut that comes from Washington or ignore the effects,' they said. 'If this pattern of devastating cuts continues, we will be prepared to exercise emergency powers. Although we hope that Washington reverses course, we must plan for the inevitable or unpredictable. Over the coming weeks, we will be meeting to collaboratively plan how to best protect our state's values.'
State Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said Wednesday that she is not 'going to commit to supplanting all federal dollars that this administration is going to cut.'
Osten said she is 'focused on getting a good clean budget' this legislative session.
'I am concentrated on getting a budget through that addresses the issues of the people of Connecticut,' Osten said. 'Every single day, there is something else that the federal government has decided is immaterial. I disagree with that decision, and that's why I'm not addressing each and every decision that is made by the federal government. … We're going to make an assessment on getting the best budget that we can.'
Staff Writer John Penney contributed to this report.
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