Education Department to Release Billions in Withheld Grant Money for Schools

The action is announced three days before the Trump administration’s response to a multi-state lawsuit was due in federal court.

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington on July 21, 2007. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to soon release to public schools billions of dollars in federal grants previously put on hold.

In an email response to The Epoch Times, Madi Biedermann, the Department of Education’s deputy assistant secretary for communications, said the Office of Management and Budget just completed a review of the 2025 public education allocations “and will begin dispersing funds to the states next week.”

All told, the funding that states expected earlier this month totaled $6 billion. It covers Title III English language instruction, after-school care, summer programs, education for illegal immigrants, teacher training, and adult literacy.

The Department of Education announced last week that the money for summer and after-school programs, which total $1.3 billion, will be released.

The funding disbursement was delayed because the department wanted to ensure that the money could be spent in accordance with President Donald Trump’s “priorities, and the department’s statutory responsibilities,” according to a July 14 federal lawsuit filed by 24 states and the District of Columbia.

The complaint noted that the delays affect several institutions beyond K–12 schools.

“The ED Funding Freeze has jeopardized the continued operation of hundreds of adult education grantees across the Plaintiff States—including community colleges, public schools, libraries, community-based organizations, and correctional education programs—that collectively employ tens of thousands of education personnel,” the complaint said.

“These adult education programs are critical to supporting workforce development, family, literacy, and reentry efforts across the state.”

The amounts states are waiting for this summer range from $927 million in California to $25 million in Wyoming, according to a July 1 statement from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

“Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they’ll have to cut back on afterschool programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed,” Murray wrote.

A second lawsuit from a coalition of parents, teacher unions, school districts, and advocacy groups was filed in the same federal court in Rhode Island. Like the first suit, it also alleges that the federal government’s actions in withholding money that Congress already authorized are illegal and unconstitutional. The deadline for the administration’s response is July 28.

Senate Democrats also sent letters to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought urging them to release the funds.

McMahon has previously said that federal grant programs should be focused on meaningful learning and not divisive ideologies.

She has proposed cutting her department’s 2026 budget by 15 percent, or about $12 billion. During a recent appropriations committee hearing, she told legislators that the most vital K–12 programs, including funding for low-income schools and special needs children, won’t be affected.