Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, in the photo from the file from November 2024 (photo Shaneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
This week, hundreds of school districts throughout the community breathe a sigh of relief, after the Trump administration said on Friday that she had completed a review of several programs and soon releases $ 230 million in expenses approved by Congress.
Last month, the administration frozen billions of financing for the most sensitive students throughout the country.
The advertisement ends at weeks of faceing the election that without him move on without it, because schools in Pennsylvania have already covered money in their budgets. Many, deprived of reserves to supplement the deficiency, were forced to reduce staff or loans and pay interest to ensure that the necessary staff will be in place by the modern school year.
“We did not have a profitable plan to include or reduce the budget,” said Stephen Rodriguez, curator of the Pottstown school district in Montgomery Capital. He left $ 175,000 in the district budget. “We had no choice but to absorb it or pay by emergency financing.”
The Association of School Councils in Pennsylvania said in a statement on Wednesday that it was so It was released that federal funds would be released on time for schools to make program and operational decisions based on the expected financing levels.
Education officials said that they received a message overdue June 30, the day before paying the money, that they would be stopped for a review.
The sudden announcement aroused criticism of education supporters who claimed that the movement was reckless and unlawful and would affect students who needed the greatest support.
Throughout the country, a decision was submitted to the limit of $ 6.8 billion in the financing of extracurricular programs, teacher training, reading and writing and education skills for migrating and non -English students.
According to Analysis according to the Education Week$ 230 million due to Pennsylvania is the sixth amount among the states among the states of California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Governor Josh The Shapiro office has joined 23 other states and the district of Colombia in the lawsuit questioning the move, about which supporters of education in Pennsylvania praised.
The Center for Educational Law in Pennsylvania said that “is grateful to Shapiro governor for the fight and defense of the constitutional authority of the Congress in order to properly finance and protect students against loss of access to critical learning opportunities.”
“His leadership in order to hear administration will still be needed and was effective in this situation,” said the center, noting that public schools of the Nations Community still have uncertainty about the state budget, which is overdue.
And 150 members of the Congress, including all seven democrats at the Pennsylvania delegation, demanded a response from the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the Director for Management and Budget Director Russell Vaught about when the administration review was completed, and whether he provided guidelines for school officials in the meantime.
A spokesman for the American representative Chris Deluzio (D-17. District) emphasized his efforts to obtain an answer.
“Rep. Deluzio is proud that his support has helped to push the administration to release funds at the end of last week, and he will never stop fighting for our students, teachers and schools,” said Josh Fleitman, press secretary of the District Delezio on Wednesday.
After restoring the funds, it is still unclear why Trump’s administration suddenly raised funds, said Congress members.
“If the administration knew that he wanted to review these funds, why did this review not start this year?” They asked in a letter, asking if the working strength of the education department was the cause of the delay. Fleitman said it wasn’t clear on Wednesday, whether the administration replied.
