Trump administration pauses grant for Austin ISD staff that helps settle refugee students
The district employees work at the International Welcome Center at Webb Middle School, and they help children and their families who are refugees, asylum-seekers or newcomers find language resources, registration assistance, workshops for parents and other help navigating the school system.
The employees, whose salaries are paid with part of a now-frozen $1.1 million federal grant, make up eight of the welcome center's nine workers, district spokesman JJ Maldonado said.
The Austin district is a subrecipient of federal Refugee School Impact funding that is awarded to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. The conference administers the money to the school district through its Austin nonprofit.
Earlier this month, however, Catholic Charities of Central Texas, a social services nonprofit offshoot of the national Catholic conference, sent notice to the Austin school district informing it that the faith-based group would be furloughing most of its staff under the Refugee School Impact grant program 'due to the continued 'freeze' of funds,' Maldonado said.
The federal grant program helps refugee children with succeeding in formal schooling and aids school districts that enroll those students.
District administrators, however, plan to pay the eight employees' salaries with school money for an additional 30 days after to temporarily sustain the welcome center program, but they're working to find other positions in the district for those workers, Maldonado said.
'These employees are an incredible asset to our district,' Maldonado said.
In a Feb. 13 letter to welcome center employees, the district's Office of Talent Strategy told federally funded staff members that their current positions would end after March 14, according to a copy of the message obtained by the Statesman.
'Should the current funding situation change and grant funds become available prior to the 30-day mark, we will communicate with you immediately,' according to the message. 'We understand that this news may come as a disappointment, and we want to acknowledge your dedication and valuable contributions.'
In a statement to the Statesman, a spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families, which houses the resettlement office, said the federal agency hadn't requested a pause on payments for the school impact program.
The spokesperson didn't respond to several requests asking to clarify whether a pause had been requested at all.
The district received two Refugee School Impact grants.
The eight affected staff positions are funded through a $1.125 million grant awarded Nov. 21, 2024, and which runs through September, Maldonado said.
Another nearly $1.9 million grant awarded Nov. 18, 2024, is specific to serving newcomers from Afghanistan, but that money doesn't affect staff positions, Maldonado said.
The U.S. Catholic bishop's organization on Feb. 18 filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's suspension of funding for refugee programs, including some administered by the nonprofit. According to the lawsuit, the organization is owed about $13 million in federal reimbursements, and itself owes an additional $11.6 million to its subrecipients.
The grant freeze stems from a U.S. State Department letter sent Jan. 24 to recipients of refugee resettlement program funding announcing that the awards were suspended pending review, The Associated Press reported.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked a Jan. 20 Trump administration suspension of refugee admissions in a lawsuit brought by individual refugees and refugee aid groups, USA Today reported. The Catholic bishop's organization's lawsuit is separate from that one.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How the refugee federal funding freeze is affecting Austin ISD schools
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