Trump administration to release over $5 billion school funding that it withheld

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.

KEY QUOTES

"(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review ... and has directed the Department to release all formula funds," Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in an emailed statement.

"The agency will begin dispersing funds to states next week," Biedermann added. Further details on the review and what it found were not shared in the statement.

A senior administration official said "guardrails" would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details about them. The release of the more than $5 billion amount was reported earlier by the Washington Post.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was "a radical leftwing agenda."

States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.

CONTEXT

After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican U.S. senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.

Republican U.S. lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.

The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.

The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.



(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)