John,
Last week, Congress voted to rescind $9 billion in previously appropriated funds including funds for NPR and PBS. That is just the latest attack on funding for local communities that Congress has already approved—and the Administration has tried to claw back.
Now the administration is withholding another $5 billion—this time it’s funding for public education that states were expecting by July 1st.1 Congress approved and President Trump signed into law FY2025 funding for students and classrooms along with after-school and summer programs as part of a March 2025 spending package. This funding gets distributed to states via formula that is part of the law and for uses that are prescribed in law. By not distributing these funds, the administration is taking the first step toward “impoundment,” the illegal withholding of money appropriated by Congress to fund federal programs and activities.
School districts were expecting funds to use for curriculum, technology, and other critical services and will be forced to cut educators’ salaries, student supports for English learners and migrant students, and lay off school staff—leading to significantly larger class sizes. These cuts will impact every state and school district, and students nationwide.
As a result of withholding this funding, the nearly 16,500 districts2 that rely on this funding to provide professional development to 1.9 million teachers, as well as recruiting, hiring, and retaining educators are at a loss. Moreover, for the approximately one in five districts that use these funds to help reduce class sizes, we may see class sizes increase at a time when students need more individual attention to make up pandemic-induced learning loss and to close historic opportunity gaps.
And, they are withholding funding for Title III and migrant education programs, putting at risk the curriculum, targeted programs, supplemental instructional materials to acquire English, family workshops, professional development for educators, and other vital supports that help our nation’s 5 million English learners achieve language proficiency—and support their future ability to compete and succeed in the American economy.
This illegal clawback of public education funds impacts K-12 education and will result in job losses as school districts and other organizations in every state look to consolidate classrooms and programs.
Join CHN Action and our national allies in taking action today, urging Congress to demand the immediate release of $7 billion in public school funding.
Whether it’s the Big Brutal Budget, the recissions package that passed Congress last week, this $5 billion in public education funds, or the at least $425 billion that the Trump administration is withholding from our communities3, we will not be silent. We must continue to make our voices heard.
Thank you for taking action today,
Meredith Dodson
Senior Director of Public Policy, CHN Action
[1]What's the Latest on Trump's School Funding Freeze? What We Know and Don't Know
[2]A District-by-District Accounting of the $6.2 Billion the U.S. Department of Education Has Held Back from Schools
[3]Trump’s Unprecedented Funding Freeze Hits Communities Across America
