WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department will release $1.3 billion in previously withheld grant money for after-school programs, days after 10 Republican senators sent a letter imploring the Trump administration to allow frozen education money to be sent to states.
President Donald Trump’s administration on July 1 withheld more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, adult literacy and English language instruction, as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Republican senators said the withheld money supported programs that had longstanding bipartisan support and were critical to local communities.
“We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,” the senators wrote to the Office of Management and Budget. “However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”
A senior administration official said Friday that the programmatic review of the funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which support after-school and summer programming, had been completed. The funding will be released to states, the official said. The rest of the withheld grants, close to $5 billion, continues to be reviewed for bias by the Office of Management and Budget.
Without the money, school districts and nonprofits such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club of America had said they would have to close or scale back educational programs this fall. The money being released Friday pays for free programming before and after school and during the summer, providing child care so low-income parents can work, or giving options to families who live in rural areas with few other child care providers.
The programs go beyond child care, offering reading and math help to kids, along with enrichment in science and the arts.
On Monday, more than 20 states had filed a lawsuit challenging the $6 billion funding freeze. The lawsuit, led by California, argued withholding the money was unconstitutional and many low-income families would lose access to critical after-school care if the grants were not released.
David Schuler, executive director of AASA, an association of school superintendents, praised the release of after-school money but said that the remaining education funding should not be withheld.
“Districts should not be in this impossible position where the Administration is denying funds that had already been appropriated to our public schools, by Congress,” Schuler said in a statement. “The remaining funds must be released immediately — America’s children are counting on it.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, called on the White House to release the remainder of the funding in a statement Friday.
“Every penny of this funding must flow immediately,” Murray said in a statement. “Whether or not parents know the after-school program they depend on will exist should not depend on whether Republicans will push back against Trump’s lawlessness.”
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Annie Ma, The Associated Press
