Trump Administration Releases Billions It Withheld from Schools
The government placed nearly $7 billion in funding under review June 30, then released $1.3 billion of it last week. The administration's review of the remaining funding has ended, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) confirmed the move on social media, saying that he pushed for the money to be released. 'Exciting news to announce! All frozen education funding for the upcoming school year have been released,' he wrote on X.
Lawmakers from both parties had lobbied to release the money, which funds six grant programs related to English-language-learning programs, teacher training, support for children of migrant workers and academic enrichment activities. The freeze was also being challenged in court by states and school districts.
States expected the funding to be released July 1, as normally happens each year. Instead, the Education Department notified states June 30 that the money was under review for compliance with President Donald Trump's priorities. The Office of Management and Budget said it was investigating whether any of the grant money had in the past been used for a 'radical left-wing agenda.'
The administration official said Friday that 'guardrails' will be in place 'to ensure these funds will not be used in violation of executive orders or administration policy.' It was not immediately clear what those guardrails will be or when school districts will see the funds.
Public education supporters credited pressure from educators and advocates for helping to unfreeze the funding but criticized the administration for withholding the money in the first place.
'This administration deserves no credit for just barely averting a crisis they themselves set in motion,' Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) said in a statement. 'You don't thank a burglar for returning your cash after you've spent a month figuring out if you'd have to sell your house to make up the difference.'
Holding back the funding was the latest attempt by the administration to disrupt federal support for K-12 public schools. Since taking office, Trump has instructed the education secretary to move toward shutting down the Education Department and to find ways to transfer some of its duties to other governmental agencies.
The Education Department has also moved to cancel billions of dollars in K-12 grants and contracts and to reduce its workforce by half. Trump has portrayed the department as 'failing' and asserts that he wants to 'return education to the states,' but the administration's moves have outraged public education advocates who say cutting off federal support does nothing to help students learn.
Speaking at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Colorado Springs on Friday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the freezing and thawing of the funding was part of 'the transition aspect' for a new administration. She added that it took some time for the Office of Management and Budget to 'look at all the programs' before the funding was released.
'Now those funds are going to be going out,' she told Gov. Jared Polis (D-Colorado), who was leading a panel discussion. 'I would think now that we've reviewed them, looked at that process, so that a year from now, we wouldn't find ourselves in the same situation.'
A group of 24 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration last week over the decision to freeze nearly $7 billion, arguing that it violated the Constitution and federal law, in part because the money had been appropriated by Congress. A group of school districts, parents, teachers unions and nonprofits filed a separate lawsuit.
More than 200 superintendents have gone to senators' offices on Capitol Hill to plead their case, and some lawmakers worked to pressure the administration to release the funding.
The Trump administration last Friday said it would release one of the streams of frozen funding, allowing $1.3 billion for after-school and summer programs to flow to schools. Educators continued lobbying for all the money to be restored.
'This is a major victory for public education and the communities it serves,' said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the school districts and others. 'While this development shows that legal and public pressure can make a difference, school districts, parents, and educators should not have to take the administration to court to secure funds for their students.'
In its original message to state education agencies, the Education Department said the funding was being reviewed 'given the change in Administrations.' Later, an OMB spokesperson told reporters that the administration was investigating whether the funds had been used by any school districts for purposes such as scholarships for undocumented immigrant students or teachings on LGBTQ+ topics.
The Democratic states that sued the government contended that the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to offer 'a reasoned explanation' for the funding review.
Nearly three-quarters of superintendents who responded to a mid-July survey by AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said they would have to eliminate academic services for students if the rest of the federal funding were not restored.
Eighty-five percent of the superintendents said they have contracts that are supposed to be paid with the funds in question. Half said they would have to lay off staff and teachers without the money, including those who work with English-language learners and special education students, according to AASA, which collected responses from more than 600 superintendents in 43 states.
'We are pleased public schools will receive the funding as appropriated by Congress for the 2025-26 school year,' AASA Executive Director David Schuler said in a statement Friday, noting 'how disruptive withholding these funds would be for our nation's students.'
Superintendents in multiple states told The Washington Post this week that the withholding of the money would probably result in cuts in their districts and said that they were holding out hope that the Trump administration would reverse course.
For some, the effects of the lost funding would have been severe – particularly in areas where many students are learning English. In Marshalltown, Iowa, where a pork plant draws migrant agricultural workers and immigrants from dozens of countries, the school district was facing a 'devastating blow,' said Theron Schutte, superintendent of the Marshalltown Community School District.
Schutte had contacted all his congressional representatives asking for help. District programs like swim lessons for summer school students – started after children drowned several years ago, Schutte said – were on the chopping block so money could be moved to support English-language and other services.
'You have to prepare for the worst-case scenario,' Schutte said Thursday, before the money was unfrozen. 'But … you're still hoping they'll do the right thing and release those funds.'
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