The Trump administration is lifting a freeze on federal education grants and will release billions of dollars in public education grants Monday, including more than $19 million for El Paso County school districts, the Texas Education Agency announced Friday.
The freeze was announced June 30, a day before the Department of Education was scheduled to send state government agencies a collective $6 billion in grants that fund programs for English-language learners, children of migrant workers, adult education and after-school programs.
The announcement added to the financial challenges facing El Paso County school districts.
The TEA said it will begin taking applications again and send school districts notice of grant awards once it receives the funds.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, welcomed the release of the funds after she and 150 other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter asking the grants be released to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
“We’re continuing to put pressure on the Trump administration, and it’s working: the Department of Education is releasing billions of dollars in critical funds, including for local school districts like Ysleta ISD,” Escobar said in a Facebook post Friday.
“Title 3 grant funding is a financial lifeline for El Paso school districts, students, and teachers. I’m glad to see it returning to our schools,” she added.
El Paso school leaders also commended the release of the funds, but were critical of the Trump administration’s decision to withhold them.
“We’re happy as a school district to be able to come with those funds. We were making plans to go without them, which would have put a strain on our budget,” said Canutillo Independent School District communications director Gustavo Reveles.
“It’s unfortunate that it has come to this and that the scrutiny of the political landscape has put school districts and children in the middle of this fight, but we’re glad that in the end it’s working out and that our families will not have to go without services,” he said.
El Paso Independent School District Board President Leah Hanany also criticized the Trump administration for creating uncertainty.
“We are encouraged by the release of federal friends from the Department of Education, which are critical to ensuring students have the resources and support they need. That said, denying essential funds creates unnecessary challenges for public school systems working to serve students to meet community expectations,” Hanany said. “The administration claimed, without providing evidence, that the funds were being used to “subsidize a radical left wing agenda.”
Reveles said there is no truth to the claim.
“That’s just not part of the educational system, because that shouldn’t be part of the educational system. Unfortunately, decisions like the ones they tried to pull off here with the withholding of funding make it a political issue, instead of just really leaving education as a nonpartisan issue,” Reveles said. “We don’t use politics to provide services to our students. We simply provide the allowable services under the federal guidelines.”
The TEA said the funding will come with additional provisions for school districts to ensure they are compliant with the Trump administration’s executive orders and new guidelines to follow.
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