An estimated $26 million in federal funds earmarked for Vermont schools has been frozen by the Trump administration, which is withholding nearly $7 billion from schools nationwide.
The money, already greenlit by Congress, was expected to be released to schools Tuesday. But on Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Education told states the grants were under review.
The federal government has not said when this review might be completed — nor has it assured states that the money will be eventually disbursed. That’s alarming Vermont officials, who noted in a press release Wednesday that schools had planned on these funds when they wrote their budgets for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which began July 1.
“Federal education dollars support our most vulnerable students,” Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said in a statement. “Withholding these funds, even temporarily, disrupts districts’ ability to staff critical positions and provide a wide range of programming, including efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve literacy outcomes.”
“This decision also contributes to a culture of uncertainty that takes away from the important work our schools need to focus on to support our students,” Saunders added.
Schools, like so many recipients of federal aid, have been plunged into an unpredictable landscape since the second Trump administration began. Just last week, the federal government announced it would unfreeze up to $17 million in pandemic recovery money for Vermont schools, which it had been withholding since March. The federal government’s reversal came after 16 states had successfully sued to access the money.
The latest pause impacts six federal grant programs, which pay for migrant education, teacher training, services to English-language learners, mental health supports, after-school and summer school, and literacy programming.
“Losing these funds would disproportionately impact some of our most vulnerable students,” Ryan Heraty, the superintendent of the Lamoille South Supervisory Union, wrote in an email.
If the federal government doesn’t ultimately release the money, Heraty said his district would be forced to eliminate support services for chronically absent children, as well as its after-school program in Morrisville for middle schoolers.
Elaine Collins, the superintendent in the North Country Supervisory Union, said losing the funds would be “devastating” and could lead to a roughly $700,000 budget hole.
“We have already expended money and folks have already signed contracts,” she wrote.
This story was updated with revised figures from the North Country Supervisory Union.
