The Trump administration’s education grant cancellation spree has accelerated in recent weeks, with millions of dollars abruptly cut off for several dozen ongoing projects promoting civics, arts, and literacy education, and preparing K-12 students for college.
In the last few weeks, the U.S. Department of Education has quietly issued “non-continuation” notices for at least nine federally funded projects helping middle and high schoolers prepare for college; at least nine arts education initiatives; close to 20 projects centered around American history; and at least two efforts to supply free books to schoolchildren from low-income families, according to interviews with grant recipients and education advocates.
Those projects, which are losing funding midway through their multi-year grant periods, join a growing list of education grant recipients that have recently lost federal funding, as Education Week previously reported.
Canceled grants affecting K-12 schools funded 17 initiatives to train special education teachers; four statewide centers that help schools provide services for students who are both deaf and blind; three organizations that support parents of children with disabilities; three programs for racially desegregating public schools; and a technical assistance center that helps schools prepare for violent threats.
The Education Department has sent non-continuation notices to these grant recipients, saying their projects no longer align with the administration’s education policy focus on “merit, fairness, and excellence.” Some notices say the programs may also violate federal civil rights law—at least according to the current administration’s interpretation.
A spokesperson for the Education Department didn’t respond to a request for comment but told Education Week previously that “the Trump administration is no longer allowing taxpayer dollars to go out the door on autopilot” and is reviewing every federal grant to ensure it aligns with its priorities.
Grant programs remain intact even as some recipients lose funding
Federal support for programs currently seeing cancellations hasn’t entirely gone away. Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are currently advancing budget bills that maintain funding most programs for which the department is currently sending out continuation and non-continuation notices.
For some programs, the canceled grants represent a small fraction of the total number of recipients. Alongside 25 canceled competitive grants for special education, for instance, more than 460 others have begun receiving continuation awards, the Education Department told Congress on Sept. 5.
But in some programs where cancellation notices have gone out, other organizations and agencies still haven’t heard from the department whether their grant funding will continue or run out Oct. 1.
That’s the case for Alma Olivas, coordinator of the GEAR UP program for the Greeley-Evans Weld County school district in Colorado.
Olivas’s district is in the middle of a seven-year federal grant that pays her salary and supports a program that helps 2,400 middle and high school students stay on track for pursuing higher education.
Some of Olivas’s fellow GEAR UP grantees have already heard that their awards for the upcoming fiscal year have been canceled. As of Sept. 16, however, the department hasn’t told Olivas either way what to expect on Oct. 1.
“It’s just been a roller coaster,” Olivas said. “At this point, my priority is working with our students. We’re trying to make it the best for them. If funding is eliminated, we’ll figure it out once they tell us.”
Some organizations have had to agree to new grant terms that give the Trump administration more latitude to cancel grants without warning. Others have simply been waiting anxiously to find out if their funding will flow—in some cases disrupting programming plans for organizations that ultimately get the money they’re expecting.
The Louisiana DeafBlind Project, for instance, got its third-year federal continuation award of $167,000 more than a month later than last year. The organization helps ensure educators have the necessary skills to serve roughly 140 K-12 students across the state who have both vision and hearing impairments.
Nicky Gillies, the program’s project director, had to postpone the launch of a mentorship program for children with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects vision and hearing, because she couldn’t be certain she’d be able to pay the participating mentors after Oct. 1.
Even now that the program’s annual award is assured, Gillies worries about the possibility that experienced staffers in the field will leave, and that fears of abrupt cancellation will persist.
“I don’t want families to have to worry if we’re gonna be here,” Gillies said.
The department is also targeting hundreds of millions for higher education
Grant recipients who receive cancellation notices generally have seven days to submit an appeal letter to the department. The agency hasn’t specified what criteria it will use to assess appeals, or when grant recipients can expect to hear back.
It has, however, announced plans to reallocate some of the canceled funds. In a press release on Monday, the department said it would direct money from canceled grants to historically black colleges and universities, as well as charter schools. Meanwhile, the department said $15 million it’s pulling back in annual awards for canceled special education grants will go toward different special education projects instead.
Few, if any, recipients of federal education grants that the Trump administration canceled this year have reported getting their money restored after filing an appeal, though some have secured court orders to release the funds.
Most congressionally appropriated funds the department hasn’t given out by Sept. 30 expire and return to the Treasury Department.
Non-continuations and grant freezes are also hitting colleges and universities hard. The Education Department abruptly announced last week it’s canceling $350 million in congressionally approved funds that universities receive as a condition for enrolling a certain percentage of students from particular minority groups.
The Trump administration also appears to be withholding or pulling back tens of millions of dollars for university programs devoted to foreign languages and studies of particular regions of the world, as well as fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students in those disciplines.
In July, the Education Department failed to send out as much as $52 million for college programs that serve students who work in migratory industries like agriculture. The association that oversees those programs has sued in federal court to get the money restored.
Earlier this year, the Education Department terminated hundreds of in-progress grants and contracts for teacher-training, education research, and mental health services; withheld for weeks nearly $7 billion Congress had already approved for before- and after-school programs, English-learner services, educator professional development, and adult education; and temporarily blocked states and schools from spending billions of remaining federal dollars for pandemic relief.
Each program’s continuations and cancellations look slightly different
Unlike with some of its earlier funding disruptions this year, the Education Department hasn’t publicized its most recent rounds of grant cancellation decisions, leaving observers to tabulate which programs have lost expected funding for the new fiscal year.
Here’s the current status for each program currently experiencing cancellations.
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP): Out of roughly 100 recipients of these seven-year grants expecting continuation awards for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, at least nine received cancellation notices on Sept. 12, according to Alex Chough, president of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, an advocacy group. Several more told Education Week this week that they still haven’t received a continuation or non-continuation notice.
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal calls for ending GEAR UP. But both chambers of Congress are advancing budget bills that would maintain level funding for it for the upcoming fiscal year.
Assistance for Arts Education: Out of roughly 22 recipients of these five-year grants, at least nine have recently received non-continuation notices, according to Amanda Karhuse, assistant executive director for advocacy and public policy for the National Association for Music Education.
Most of the remaining recipients haven’t yet received confirmation their funds will flow as scheduled, Karhuse said. The upcoming fiscal year was set to be the fifth and last for all the current grantees.
The House is advancing a budget bill that would enact President Trump’s proposal to eliminate funding for this program going forward. The Senate’s version, meanwhile, maintains the program but reduces the annual investment from $37 million to $32 million.
American History and Civics: Out of roughly 26 recipients of these five-year grants expecting another round of funding, 19 have received non-continuation notices, according to advocacy groups tracking the funds. Among the programs losing funding is a professional development seminar for aspiring Wisconsin teachers to learn about Black, Mexican, and queer history in Milwaukee. Affected recipients were expecting three more years of annual funding.
Trump’s budget proposal zeroes out funding for this program. Budget bills currently advancing in both houses of Congress supply level year-over-year funding for this program.
Innovative Approaches to Literacy: Out of roughly 50 recipients of these three-year grant awards, Education Week has confirmed at least two received non-continuation notices in the last month.
Trump’s budget proposal zeroes out funding for this program. Budget bills currently advancing in both houses of Congress supply level year-over-year funding for this program.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part D: Out of close to 500 recipients across numerous grant programs, the Education Department issued non-continuation notices for 25, including:
- 17 state- and university-based projects for training special education teachers
- Four statewide “deaf-blind” centers, which collectively serve 1,000 students in eight states
- Three “community parent resource centers,” which supply resources to parents of children with disabilities from vulnerable groups, including one that serves Korean Americans in New York City
- One technical assistance center that helps states improve special education data collection
Trump’s budget proposes to eliminate Part D discretionary grant programs and move all the money currently supplied for them into the IDEA formula funding stream that pays directly for special education services in schools. Budget bills advancing in both houses of Congress instead maintain level funding or offer modest increases for programs funded by IDEA Part D, with no efforts to consolidate existing funding streams.
TRIO for college and career readiness: Out of hundreds of grant recipients across seven programs under the TRIO umbrella, more than two dozen have received cancellation notices, and dozens more have seen the start of their fiscal year delayed by one month without additional funding to cover the extended grant period.
Thirty-six U.S. senators—including three Republicans—wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Sept. 10 urging them to release all the TRIO funds they haven’t sent out yet.
Some TRIO programs have already begun suspending services, including support for high school seniors applying to college this fall.
Trump’s budget proposes to eliminate the TRIO programs, totaling $1.2 billion. Budget bills in both houses of Congress maintain level year-over-year funding for them.
Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP): Out of roughly 60 recipients of these five-year grants, three have yet to receive continuation awards, even though their respective fiscal years started in April. Dozens more are still waiting to hear back in time for their Oct. 1 start dates.
Trump’s budget proposes zeroing out funding for this program. Budget bills in both houses of Congress maintain level year-over-year funding for it.
2025-09-16 20:47:10
Source link
