Trump Abruptly Unfreezes All of the Education Funds He Had Withheld

The Trump administration next week will unfreeze billions of K-12 education dollars it has withheld from states since July 1, the Education Department told states Friday afternoon.

Roughly $5 billion will flow beginning the week of July 28 to states through four K-12 education grant programs, according to a July 25 Department of Education letter obtained by Education Week.

The affected grant programs, according to the letter, are Title I-C for migrant education ($375 million); Title II-A for professional development and teacher training ($2.2 billion); Title III-A for English-learner services ($890 million); and Title IV-A for academic enrichment ($1.3 billion).

The administration last week released $1.4 billion in Title IV-B funds for before-and after-school programs.

Both notices to states announcing the unfreezing of education funds emphasize that states must comply with a long list of federal civil rights laws.

News that the education funding freeze is ending first emerged July 25 at noon in a post on X from Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of a small handful of Congressional Republicans who publicly urged the Trump administration to release the money.

A senior administration official confirmed the news in an email to Education Week from the federal Office of Management and Budget.

“The programmatic review is over. Funds will be released to the states,” the statement reads. “Guardrails are in place to ensure these funds will not be used in violation of Executive Orders or administration policy.”

The notice to states didn’t mention the $715 million for adult education the Trump administration has also withheld since July 1. Information about that program typically flows to states separately from information about other education funding streams.

The announcement to state education agencies marks an abrupt and dramatic reversal from the Trump administration’s unprecedented decision to withhold, with less than one day’s notice, all funds from seven longstanding grant programs Congress voted in March to fund for the upcoming school year.

That move late last month sparked a firestorm of controversy and chaos nationwide, including lawsuits from two dozen Democratic state officials and, earlier this week, a coalition of school districts, state-level teachers’ unions, and education advocates.

Democrats in Congress condemned the freeze as illegal and unconstitutional. Roughly a dozen Republicans on Capitol Hill, including 10 senators who represent rural states, called last week for the administration to immediately release the money-—the most direct rebuke from federal Republicans to President Donald Trump’s education policies so far during his second term.

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.8 million American Federation of Teachers, announced the release of the funds to a standing ovation of hundreds of teachers at the union’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Funding freeze twists have upended school districts’ budget planning

The administration began unthawing its funding freeze last week when it sent states $1.4 billion in Title IV-B funds for before- and afterschool programs. Some of those programs had already begun dismissing employees and suspending services.

The seven affected grant programs were under review in an effort to root out a “radical leftwing agenda,” the federal Office of Management and Budget said later.

Since then, states and districts have been racing to understand the implications of this decision for the upcoming school year. Many have already rejiggered budgets, laid off workers, or tapped alternative sources of funds for programs they intend to maintain with or without federal support.

Just two days before the administration’s latest announcement, reports surfaced that the White House was preparing to send Congress a proposal to rescind education funds lawmakers allocated earlier this year. It’s not clear whether these now-unfrozen grant funds were among the ones the Trump administration wanted permission to formally claw back-—or whether the administration still plans to pursue freezing those funds with lawmakers’ approval.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.