Another abrupt Trump administration reversal means Vermont’s schools and adult learning centers together will receive about $26 million in previously withheld federal funding.
The money — nearly $7 billion nationwide — had been greenlit by Congress months ago. But on June 30, the day before the money was set to be released to the states, the U.S. Department of Education said that it was holding on to the funds pending review.
The surprise announcement plunged schools across the country into chaos just weeks before the beginning of the fiscal year. Local education officials, including in Vermont, had banked on the cash when they wrote their budgets. And in some cases, the money was intended to support active summer programming.
Federal officials had given no timeline as to when the money would be released, or assurances that would happen at all. And a spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which was scrutinizing the funds, had accused schools of using the money to support a “radical leftwing agenda,” according to the Associated Press.
Vermont had sued to release the funds, along with 23 other states with Democratic attorneys general or governors, and called the actions of federal officials unconstitutional. But the Trump administration had received rare pushback from the other side of the aisle as well, with 10 Republican senators publicly calling on OMB to reinstate the money.
The White House partially lifted its freeze earlier this month, when it released about $1.3 billion in after-school funding nationwide. That allowed $6.5 million to begin flowing to Vermont. Another sudden announcement, made Friday afternoon, unlocked the remaining $19.6 million.
The money was earmarked for adult education centers, migrant education, teacher training, mental health supports, after-school programming and English language learner services.
“The decision to release federal education dollars is a positive development for our most vulnerable students,” Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said in a statement. “Vermont school districts will now be equipped to begin the school year knowing they have the resources to staff critical positions and provide the meaningful and tangible opportunities that these dollars represent. Vermont schools deserve to have confidence that they will be supported with resources that have been promised.”
