Hundreds of school districts across the commonwealth are breathing a sigh of relief this week, after the Trump administration said Friday it had completed a review of several programs and would soon release $230 million in congressionally approved spending.
The administration had frozen billions in funding last month for the most vulnerable students across the country.
The announcement ends weeks of facing untenable choices to move ahead without it, since Pennsylvania schools had already included the money in their budgets. Many, lacking reserves to make up the shortfall, would have been forced to cut staff or borrow and pay interest to ensure necessary personnel would be in place for the new school year.
“We didn’t have a viable plan to account for that or reduce the budget,” Stephen Rodriguez, superintendent of the Pottstown School District in Montgomery County, told the Capital-Star. It left a $175,000 hole in the district’s budget. “We had no choice but to absorb it or pay through contingency funding.”
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association said in a statement Wednesday that it was relieved the federal funds will be released in time for schools to make programmatic and operational decisions based on expected funding levels.
Education officials said they got word late on June 30, the day before the money was due to be disbursed, that it would be held up for a review.
The sudden announcement drew criticism from education advocates who said the move was reckless and unlawful and would impact students who needed the most support.
Nationwide, the decision put into limbo $6.8 billion in congressionally approved funding for after-school programs, teacher training, literacy, and education for migrant and non-English speaking students.
According to an analysis by Education Week, the $230 million due Pennsylvania is the sixth largest amount among the states after California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office joined 23 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit challenging the move, which Pennsylvania education advocates lauded.
The Education Law Center of Pennsylvania said it was “grateful to Governor Shapiro for fighting back and defending Congress’ constitutional authority to appropriate funding and protecting students from losing access to critical learning opportunities.”
“His leadership in holding the administration accountable will continue to be needed and was effective in this situation,” the center said, noting that the commonwealth’s public schools continue to face uncertainty over the state budget, which is a month overdue.
And 150 members of Congress, including all seven Democrats in Pennsylvania’s delegation, demanded answers from Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought about when the administration’s review would be complete and whether it was providing guidance to school officials in the meantime.
A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-17th District) highlighted his efforts to get answers.
“Rep. Deluzio is proud that his advocacy helped push the Administration to release the funding late last week, and he will never stop fighting for our students, teachers, and schools,” Josh Fleitman, Deluzio’s district press secretary said in an email Wednesday.
With the funding restored, it’s still unclear why the Trump administration held up the funding so suddenly, the members of Congress said.
“If the administration knew it wanted to review these funds, why didn’t this review start earlier in the year?” they asked in a letter, questioning whether cuts to about one- third of the Education Department’s workforce was the reason for the delay. Fleitman said it was unclear Wednesday whether the administration had responded.
