DemDaily: Betraying Our Children
July 3, 2025
July 1 is normally the day that the US Department of Education (DOE) distributes its federal K–12 education funding -- money already appropriated by Congress -- to the states.
The Betrayal
On Monday, however, the Trump administration notified states that it was withholding nearly $6.9 billion in federal education grants to schools. The funding freeze, made with no forewarning, cuts a wide swath -- affecting thousands of local school districts and every state in the nation.
Those include grants for upgrading technology, teacher training initiatives and curriculum, before-and-after-school programs and services for low-income families, migrant student education, and even classes and camps already underway this summer.
The June 30 DOE email message to state education officials stated, "Given the change in Administrations, the Department is reviewing the FY 2025 funding...and remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President's priorities and the Department's statutory responsibilities." No timeline was provided for when or if the administration will release funds.
| In a statement July 2, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official confirmed to Politico that the review is a part of Trump’s broader agenda of scrutinizing the immigration and the LGBTQ+ community. “Initial findings have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda... to promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations.” |
The unexpected hold of funds sent shockwaves through the states and educational community nationwide --- with whole school systems scrambling to compensate for the unexpected shortfall on 24-hours notice.
“Trump is illegally impounding billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to serve students this fiscal year,” said California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. "The Administration is punishing children when states refuse to cater to Trump’s political ideology."
An Early Target
DOE was an early target for Trump, who, on March 23, signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to, "by the maximum extent permitted by law...facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities."
Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by billionaire Elon Musk, had already cut over two billion in grants and had, on March 11, announced a department staff cut of more than 50%.
Legally, the department cannot be entirely closed without the approval of Congress, which created the DOE under President Jimmy Carter in 1979. A coalition of advocacy groups and unions filed NAACP et al v. United States of America, and, ultimately, on June 4, a federal appeals court upheld an earlier District Court ruling blocking Trump's Executive Order dismantling the DOE.
The Chopping Block
Six Grant Programs are Under Review
* 21st Century Community Learning Centers ($1.3 billion): The primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs -- particularly those in underserved and low-performing schools.
* Teachers’ professional development and efforts to reduce class size (2 billion)
* Academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning ($1 billion)
* English learning students ($890 million)
* Education for migrant children ($376 million)
* Adult reading education ($715 million)
| “School hasn't even started and this administration is robbing our students and classrooms....Withholding billions in promised federal education funding [that] states had planned to use to support children is a cruel betrayal of students...starving [them] of resources, sowing distrust, and pushing privatization at the expense of the nation’s most vulnerable. And they are doing this at the same time as they push a budget bill that will devastate our schools and communities -- all to finance massive tax breaks for billionaires." - NEA President Becky Pringle |
NAACP v. United States
On July 1, the same coalition filed NAACP v. US, asking the Court for a preliminary injunction to block the administration's latest attempts to withhold education funding.
The Coalition: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), public school parents, the National Education Association (NEA), and AFSCME Maryland Council 3. They are supported by the National Student Legal Defense Network and the Education Law Center (ELC).
Today, the Republican-led US House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 218-214, Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." The legislation contains millions of dollars in new cuts and restrictions that will negatively impact the nation's children and schools nationwide -- particularly those in low-income and migrant communities.
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Kimberly Scott
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Sources: NEA, AP, NYT, NCSL, NPR, EdWeek, Politico, WBPF, Afterschool Alliance. learningpolicyinstitute
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