By Terell Wright, Laura Meckler, Washington Post
The Trump administration said Friday it would release $1.3 billion for after-school and summer programs, a slice of the nearly $7 billion in already appropriated funding that the administration has been holding back.
Advocates who pressed for the money to be distributed celebrated the decision, while also demanding that the administration release the rest of the funding, which pays for English language learning, teacher training and three other long-running programs.
A senior administration official said Friday that a “programmatic review” of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers – which provides funding for summer and afterschool activities for about 1.4 million students – was complete and the money will be released to the states. “Guardrails have been put in place to ensure these funds are not used in violation of Executive Orders,” the official said. She did not specify which executive orders were at risk of being violated.
The program has been in place since 1998.
Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, said that people across the country were “tremendously relieved” that the funds were being released. Still, she said damage had already been done.
“The administration’s inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm, with summer learning programs abruptly shutting down and a large number of afterschool programs plans to open in the fall,” she said. “Those programs have now fallen behind on hiring, outreach, contracting, and other work needed to fulfill their essential mission to keep students safe, inspire them to learn, and give working parents peace of mind that their kids will be safe and supervised when schools are out.”
States had expected the money for all six programs to be released by July 1. When it wasn’t, the Office of Management and Budget said it was investigating whether any of the grant money had been used in the past to fund a “radical left-wing agenda.”
On Monday, a group of 24 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to order the government to release the $6.8 billion the Education Department has withheld. The suit accuses the Trump administration of violating the Constitution and exceeding executive authority by overruling Congress’s spending power. It also argues that the freeze violates federal laws governing funding processes, the Impoundment Control Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
In addition to before- and after-school programs, the affected grant programs pay for teachers’ professional development, English-language learning programs, adult literacy programs, education support for the children of migrant agricultural workers, and student enrichment including mental health services, college and career counseling and STEM education. Most of the programs have been in place for decades.
“The Trump administration shouldn’t get credit for giving back a fraction of the money they withheld illegally from our public school kids and teachers,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), said in a statement. “I’m going to keep pushing for Trump to return every last dollar.”
