The Trump administration will unfreeze billions of dollars in education funding, a relief for school districts that were scrambling to make up budget gaps weeks before the start of the school year. The White House abruptly withheld funding that was previously set to go out to states on July 1. The Education Department said Friday that its programmatic review is now complete, and the money will be released next week. The White House Office of Management and Budget said earlier this month that initial findings showed “many of these grant programs have been grossly abused to promote a radical leftwing DEI agenda,” an assessment at least ten Senate Republicans pushed back on in a letter. A senior administration official said Friday that guardrails are in place to ensure these funds will not be used in violation of President Donald Trump’s policies, but no further details were provided. The White House was facing bipartisan pressure to release Congress-approved funding. Last week, the administration said it would unfreeze $1.3 billion for after-school and summer programming. On Friday, they announced the release of the remaining $5.5 billion to support teacher training, English language learners, migrant children education, and adult literacy.The unexpected delay caused a stir in school districts across the country, according to a survey taken earlier this month of 628 superintendents across 43 states. Nearly three out of four respondents said they would have had to eliminate academic services for students without the restoration of frozen funds. During an appearance at a National Governors Association meeting, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon, “How can we better communicate to make sure this chaos and uncertainty doesn’t occur again around funding?””No guarantees from me that will eliminate all the communication gaffes that do happen, but I can’t say part of it is just the transition aspect,” McMahon said. “I would think now we’ve reviewed them, looked at that process so that, a year from now, we wouldn’t find ourselves in the same situation.” Trump’s 2026 budget proposal calls for eliminating or scaling back some of the education programs targeted in the funding freeze. The White House Office of Management and Budget didn’t directly respond to emailed questions on whether Trump is rethinking his request to Congress, given the outcry over the pause. Trump has pledged to dismantle the Education Department to the extent allowed by law and shift key functions to other federal agencies, an effort bolstered by a recent Supreme Court decision paving the way for mass layoffs to move forward for now.
The Trump administration will unfreeze billions of dollars in education funding, a relief for school districts that were scrambling to make up budget gaps weeks before the start of the school year.
The White House abruptly withheld funding that was previously set to go out to states on July 1. The Education Department said Friday that its programmatic review is now complete, and the money will be released next week.
The White House Office of Management and Budget said earlier this month that initial findings showed “many of these grant programs have been grossly abused to promote a radical leftwing DEI agenda,” an assessment at least ten Senate Republicans pushed back on in a letter.
A senior administration official said Friday that guardrails are in place to ensure these funds will not be used in violation of President Donald Trump’s policies, but no further details were provided.
The White House was facing bipartisan pressure to release Congress-approved funding. Last week, the administration said it would unfreeze $1.3 billion for after-school and summer programming. On Friday, they announced the release of the remaining $5.5 billion to support teacher training, English language learners, migrant children education, and adult literacy.
The unexpected delay caused a stir in school districts across the country, according to a survey taken earlier this month of 628 superintendents across 43 states. Nearly three out of four respondents said they would have had to eliminate academic services for students without the restoration of frozen funds.
During an appearance at a National Governors Association meeting, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon, “How can we better communicate to make sure this chaos and uncertainty doesn’t occur again around funding?”
“No guarantees from me that will eliminate all the communication gaffes that do happen, but I can’t say part of it is just the transition aspect,” McMahon said. “I would think now we’ve reviewed them, looked at that process so that, a year from now, we wouldn’t find ourselves in the same situation.”
Trump’s 2026 budget proposal calls for eliminating or scaling back some of the education programs targeted in the funding freeze. The White House Office of Management and Budget didn’t directly respond to emailed questions on whether Trump is rethinking his request to Congress, given the outcry over the pause.
Trump has pledged to dismantle the Education Department to the extent allowed by law and shift key functions to other federal agencies, an effort bolstered by a recent Supreme Court decision paving the way for mass layoffs to move forward for now.