The federal Department of Education will unfreeze billions of dollars that had been scheduled to be given to K-12 schools and adult education programs by July 1, before it was abruptly withheld. That includes some $171 million in funding to Michigan.
“We have received notification this afternoon from the U.S. Department of Education that Title dollars previously withheld by the Trump Administration will be released beginning the week of July 28,” State Superintendent Michael F. Rice said in an emailed statement on Friday.
“If this indeed proves true, it will be welcome news for students and schools. It prompts the question: why was it necessary for half the states in the country to file a lawsuit to get a congressionally approved appropriation released by the administration?”
Last week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined more than 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over the $6 billion freeze of education grants. The grants had been approved by Congress, and included money for already ongoing summer learning programs that were been left unfunded, according to a press release about the suit.
Schools were left scrambling weeks before the start of the new school year, according to the suit, when they were informed on the evening of June 30 in an email from the federal education department that the money was “being withheld for a ‘review’ of the programs’ consistency with, among other things, the ‘President’s priorities.’”
Six programs were affected, according to Nessel’s office, including those that support English language learners and kids whose families are migrant workers, provide professional development for educators, and fund K-12 enrichment programs and adult education.
“The withholding of federal Title funding negatively and disproportionately affects students who are economically disadvantaged, are migrants or English learners, or need extra help with academics before-school, after-school, or during the summer,” Superintendent Rice said in a press release at the time.
Some of the programs were administered through the state’s Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) department, which “planned to use these funds to support nearly 100 adult education providers across the state who were estimated to serve more than 20,000 adult learners,” according to LEO director Susan Corbin.
The White House had previously announced it would unfreeze about $1 billion in afterschool funding, and several Republican senators signed a public letter asking for the release of the funding.
