(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s administration is pausing over $6 billion of congressionally-appropriated federal funding for after-school, student support, teacher training, English language and other education programs, according to a Department of Education memo obtained by ABC News.
In a letter to Congress from the agency’s office of legislation and congressional affairs Monday afternoon, the DOE said a notification would be sent to certain grantees alerting them that funding for the upcoming school year would be reviewed on July 1 and decisions concerning this academic year have “not yet been made.”
“The department will not be issuing grant award notifications obligating funds for these programs on July 1 prior to completing that review,” the memo reads in part. “The department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the president’s priorities and the department’s statutory responsibilities.”
The statutorily mandated special education funding through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have been awarded to states on time, according to a DOE source.
But school budgets for the year are typically approved in May or June and are ready to be allocated by July 1, according to education finance experts. The abrupt messaging from the administration gave scant details on how the key programs would be impacted moving forward and comes just weeks before many state education agencies return students to the classroom.
The 2024 National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman, an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor in Tennessee, told ABC News any withholding of funds will affect schools.
“School budgets are already very tight, so withholding funds for required programs — such as those for English learners — will certainly place a burden on school systems,” Testerman wrote in a statement to ABC News.
“This likely will mean that systems will face the difficult decision to make budget cuts in other areas, affecting students. In rural systems like mine, this could mean a reduction in overall staff or the elimination of crucial supports for students such as afterschool and tutoring programs,” Testerman added.
House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., called the move to withhold the appropriated funds a violation of federal law with potentially devastating consequences.
“The halting of these critical funds harms the students, educators, and schools that strive to provide quality public education with the meager funds and challenges they face,” Scott wrote in a statement to ABC News.
“Cash-strapped school districts, particularly those in low-income and rural areas, cannot afford this delay and will likely be forced to either lay off staff or cut back on programs and services while the White House Office of Budget and Management ‘reviews’ the funding,” Scott said.
State attorneys general are expected to sue the administration over the reviews, according to a source familiar with the matter. Parents groups and education advocates decrying the decision are also mounting lawsuits against the administration, the source confirmed. Advocates accuse the administration of undermining public education in a “cruel betrayal” of students.
“Schools are already grappling with severe teacher shortages, burnout and under-resourced classrooms, and here comes the federal government ripping resources away from public schools. It is outrageous and unconscionable,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle.
“Educators and parents will not be silent while students are undervalued, unheard and unsupported,” Pringle wrote in a statement, adding, “We will stand up, speak out and take action to ensure every classroom is a place of dignity, opportunity and respect.”
Education providers are sounding the alarm about the funding that impacts millions of students, teachers, and families, telling ABC News they fear that low-income students and families will be left in a bind with no other options of care for their children.
The Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit organization, said, “If these funds are not released very soon, we will quickly see more children and youth unsupervised and at risk, more academic failures, more hungry kids, more chronic absenteeism, higher dropout rates, more parents forced out of their jobs, and a less STEM-ready and successful workforce as our child care crisis worsens dramatically.”
The pause comes as efforts to dismantle the Department of Education have been blocked by lower courts. The Supreme Court is also expected to weigh in on the firing of nearly 2,000 employees at the agency.
The DOE referred additional questions to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
An OMB spokesman told ABC News the pause is due to an “ongoing programmatic review” of education funding, adding no decisions have been made yet.
Many of the programs “grossly misused” government funds to promote a “radical leftwing agenda,” the OMB spokesperson added. In some cases, the programs allegedly promote illegal immigration advocacy and queer resistance in the arts, according to the spokesman.
-ABC News’ Deena Zaru contributed to this report.
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