A group of Republican senators has asked the White House to release funds already appropriated by Congress for state-level educational programs — funds that are being withheld due to concerns that they promote a “radical left-wing agenda.”
In a letter dated Wednesday, 10 Republican senators led by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia asked Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to “faithfully implement” the funding bill passed by Congress for 2025, “including the education formula funds that states anticipated receiving on July 1, 2025.”
The senators said they share Vought’s concern “about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,” but claimed that the specific funds in question would not be used that way.
“These funds go to support programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies,” the senators wrote.
The lawmakers added that, in their view, the decision to hold the money back was contrary to President Trump’s stated goal of “returning K-12 education to the states.”
An important source: Federal appropriations for local education programs play an important role in state budgets, and a coalition of 24 states sued the Trump administration earlier this week to release more than $6 billion in grants for K-12 and adult education programs that have been withheld pending review by the Education Department. States expected to receive those funds at the beginning of July.
"With no rhyme or reason, the Trump Administration abruptly froze billions of dollars in education funding just weeks before the start of the school year," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said while discussing the lawsuit Monday.
As congressional reporter Jamie Dupree notes, schools in the South will likely feel the pinch first, since they tend to start earlier than schools in the North, some as early as this month. Looming budget losses for states include $201 million in Georgia, $347 million in Florida and $84 million in Missouri.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said that if the funding freeze continues, it will hit his state hard. “This will mean cuts in after-school programs, STEM education, adult literacy classes, mental health services for students, and will trigger higher class sizes in grades K through three,” he said. “It could also mean laying off 1,000 educators.”