Senator Murray Calls on Trump Admin to Immediately Release Billions in Funds K-12 Schools Across America are Counting On

Nearly $7 billion in funding approved by Congress in March is blocked just weeks away from the start of the school year

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement demanding the prompt release of billions of dollars in funding for K-12 schools across America that the Trump administration is blocking just weeks away from the start of the new school year. These funds largely go out the door to states on July 1 each year and support school districts in every state. This year, however, the Trump administration is blocking the funding and signaling it may simply seek to illegally impound them.

“Today, billions of dollars that Congress has already provided to support students across America should be going out the door—but President Trump is blocking these investments and putting school districts in every zip code in a bind with the new school year just weeks away.

“President Trump himself signed this funding into law—but that isn’t stopping him from choking off resources to support before and after school programs, help students learn, support teachers in the classroom, and a lot more. The uncertainty he has created has already forced districts to delay hiring and other initiatives to help students. The only question left now is how much more damage this administration wants to inflict on our public schools.

“President Trump and Russ Vought need to stop sabotaging our students’ futures and get these resources out the door. Local school districts can’t afford to wait out lengthy court proceedings to get the federal funding they’re owed—nor can they make up the shortfall, especially not at the drop of a pin. Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they’ll have to cut back on afterschool programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed.”

The Trump administration has confirmed it is blocking funding for the following programs from being available to school district across America:

• Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II-A), which support professional development and other activities to improve the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, including reducing class size.
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Title IV-B), which support high-quality before and after-school programs focused on providing academic enrichment opportunities for students.
• Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV-A), which provide flexible funding for school districts for a wide range of activities including supporting STEM education, accelerated learning courses, college and career counseling, school-based mental health services, and improving school technology, among many others.
• English Language Acquisition (Title III-A), which supports language instruction to help English language learners become proficient in English.
• Migrant Education (Title I-C), which supports the educational needs of migratory children, including children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
• Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants (including Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education State Grants), which support adult education and literacy programs to provide the basic skills to help prepare adults and out-of-school youth for success in the workforce.
   

Notably, the Trump administration has proposed to eliminate each of these programs in its fiscal year 2026 budget request, and it has so far refused to commit to spending the funding already provided for this fiscal year. When pressed in early June by Senator Murray about whether the Department of Education would release the funds to school districts, Secretary Linda McMahon refused to make any commitment to get the funds out. At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought similarly refused to commit to getting the funding out—and even suggested to Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) the funds could be part of a future rescissions request, or illegally impounded.

In total, the Trump administration is blocking nearly $7 billion in approved funding for these programs from going out the door to K-12 schools. A state-by-state breakdown of how much funding is at stake is below.

FUNDING BLOCKED BY TRUMP ADMIN

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