Trump withholds over $8 billion for schools, with little explanation

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has declined to release nearly US$7 billion (S$8.92 billion) in federal funding that helps pay for after-school and summer programmes, support for students learning English, teacher training and other services.

The money was expected to be released by July 1.

But in an e-mail on June 30, the Education Department notified state education agencies that the money would not be available.

The administration offered little explanation, saying only that the funds were under review.

It gave no timeline for when, or if, the money would be released, saying instead that it was “committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities”.

The frozen funds are unrelated to the millions of dollars in cuts included in the

domestic policy Bill that squeaked through the Senate on July 1.

“It’s catastrophic,” said Ms Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, a group that works to expand after-school services for students.

She estimated that the federal dollars for after-school and summer-school programmes – about US$1.3 billion annually – support 1.4 million students, mostly lower income, representing about 20 per cent of all students in after-school programmes nationally.

The move is likely to be challenged in court and has already been criticised as illegal by Democrats and teachers’ unions, who emphasised that the money had been appropriated by Congress and was approved by President Donald Trump in March as part of a broader funding Bill.

“This is lawless,” said Ms Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The administration has taken an aggressive approach to cutting back the federal government’s role in education, including plans to eliminate the Education Department entirely.

Though only Congress can abolish the department, the Trump administration has taken an axe to education staffing and funding more broadly as it seeks to whittle down the department.

The administration has suggested that it may seek to eliminate the nearly US$7 billion in frozen funding.

Mr Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week that the administration was considering ways to claw back the funding through a process known as rescission.

The administration would formally ask lawmakers to claw back a set of funds it has targeted for cuts.

Even if Congress fails to vote on the request, the President’s timing would trigger a law that freezes the money until it ultimately expires.

“No decision has been made,” Mr Vought said.

The withholding of dollars on July 1 threw school district budgets into uncertainty, with only weeks to go before the start of school in many parts of the country.

Ms Heidi Sipe, the superintendent in Umatilla, Oregon, a low-income, rural district, said her district’s after-school programme has traditionally gone until 4.45pm or 5.30pm, and was fully funded through federal dollars.

She recently sent a note to parents urging them to make backup plans, though few exist in her community, where she said there is no YMCA or similar alternatives.

In Omaha, Nebraska, Ms Nicole Everingham, who helps manage after-school funding for programmes at 42 public schools, said a loss of funding would force her group to consolidate the number of schools that can offer after-school care, and also mean fewer slots for students, because of staffing reductions.

“It completely puts us in flux,” said Ms Everingham, the development director for Collective for Youth, which helps coordinate after-school programming for about half of Omaha public schools.

Even if the money comes through after a delay, she said, it could disrupt the ability to hire staff by the start of school in mid-August, creating chaos for working parents who depend on after-school programmes.

Many school districts also rely on federal dollars to help non-English-speaking students and families, including training teachers and hiring translators.

“Without this outreach, families who do not speak English could be cut off from schools and the support system they need,” said Ms Ana DeGenna, the school district superintendent in Oxnard, California.

Several of the federally funded programmes have been in place for decades.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centres, which support before- and after-school programmes, were created in 1994 by federal legislation, and expanded six years later with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Both measures, the first passed during a Democratic administration and the second under a Republican president, were approved by broad bipartisan majorities.

One of the newest programmes, known as Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants, has been in place for a decade, supporting many services for issues like mental health and school technology.

That law that authorised those grants received broad bipartisan support, including from Representative Tim Walberg of Michigan and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, both Republicans who are now the chairs of the education committees in their respective chambers.

But criticism about cutting funding for these programmes has largely been limited to Democrats.

“Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they’ll have to cut back on after-school programmes or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed,” Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat who is the vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. NYTIMES