Trump Administration to Unfreeze Grants for After-School and Summer Programs

The Trump administration has decided to release funds for after-school programs, days after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers complained about the frozen grants. The Education Department will release $1.3 billion in previously withheld grant money for after-school programs.

The decision comes 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 had initially 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. The money had been appropriated by Congress in a bill signed by Trump.

“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.”

The administration's review of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which support after-school and summer programming, has been completed, a senior official said Friday. The funding will be released to states, while the rest of the withheld grants continues to be reviewed for bias by the Office of Management and Budget.

“While we are thrilled the funds will be made available," said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, “the administration’s inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm." Many after-school programs had canceled plans to open in the fall, she said.

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.”

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending, led the letter sent this week by Republican senators, protesting the funding freeze.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, called on the White House to release the rest of the money.

“At this very moment, schools nationwide are crunching the numbers to figure out how many teachers they will need to lay off as Trump continues to hold up billions in funding,” Murray said Friday in a statement. “Every penny of this funding must flow immediately.”