Trump administration pulls nearly $42 million in federal funding from Michigan schools
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies during her confirmation hearing on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by)
On Friday, March 28, President Donald Trump's Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent letters to the head education official in each state saying that their schools no longer had one more year to spend COVID relief funds, but that the deadline had been changed to that very same Friday.
As a result, Michigan's Department of Education is reporting schools around the state will lose nearly $42 million of funding.
Pre-approved projects in 27 Michigan school districts for federal reimbursement were intended to improve air quality and safety in schools following the COVID-19 pandemic, State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice said in a statement Monday.
'Walking back a federal commitment to pandemic relief funds to improve the air quality, healthfulness, and safety of schools coming out of the pandemic is unacceptable,' Rice said.
The Department of Education under former President Joe Biden had approved extensions to the project reimbursement deadline to March 28, 2026, but with the sudden revocation, Rice said schools locked into contracts will have to cut other facets of education to foot the bill.
'A change in administrations should not void previous commitments,' Rice said. 'Without the promised March 2026 date for federal reimbursement requests, districts may be forced to reduce instructional expenditures for students, diminish savings, or both to honor these contracts.'
Rice requested that Secretary McMahon reconsider her decision to cut off funding and implored Michigan's congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, to act.
The previous administration's extension 'was not justified', McMahon's letter on Friday said, adding that state education leaders had 'ample' time to receive reimbursement.
McMahon added that it was an act of 'grace' that the department had granted extensions for federal reimbursement and prior approval for projects does not override an agency's autonomy to reconsider decisions. However, states can request extensions on individual projects, McMahon wrote, which would leave it at the department's discretion to determine necessity.
'By failing to meet the clear deadline in the regulation, you ran the risk that the Department would deny your extension request. 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.
Some of the communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic and health care infrastructure will lose the most funding, the Michigan Department of Education reports.
Flint Community Schools will lose out on about $15.6 million in funding, the most in the state, while the city was one of the hardest hit in Michigan by the COVID-19 pandemic. Flint, where the residents were effectively poisoned by lead contamination in 2014 when the city switched its water supply source, creating years of health issues for the community, had the compounded strain during the COVID-19 pandemic as the city was a hotspot for the spread of the virus and residents were slow to receiving the vaccine.
Other school districts slated to lose funding are Benton Harbor Area Schools, which still had about $4.5 million slotted for them, Hamtramck Public Schools at about $7.2 million and Pontiac School District at about $3.3 million.
The U.S. Department of Education walking back its commitment to health and safety projects is an affront, State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh said in a statement. Pugh, who served as the Chief Public Health Advisor for the City of Flint during the Flint Water Crisis, says she sees communities who are losing funding and recognizes that they are some of the communities who are in the most need of projects that help keep kids healthy.
'These federally funded projects are important to students and staff in our districts in Michigan and across the country,' Pugh said. 'To cancel funding approval on no notice and to tell districts that they may apply for a second approval from the U.S. Department of Education to access these funds, with different criteria, has nothing to do with service to schoolchildren.'
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Chicago Tribune
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Violent crime drops to levels not seen in a decade in Chicago during first half of 2025
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The Hill
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