Editor’s note: Shortly after this story published, the Trump administration announced it would release the frozen funds.
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Washington state’s Yakima Valley produces cherries and peaches, peppers and corn, wine for grapes and hops for beer. Many of the farmworkers who tend these crops send their children to the Yakima School District.
A dedicated nurse makes sure they get eyeglasses and dental care. Advocates stationed in every school track attendance and academic performance. Graduation specialists at each of the district’s comprehensive high schools work closely with students and their parents, looking for solutions if kids start to fall behind.
Yakima serves one of the largest shares of migrant students in the state, and all this support means that migrant students there graduate at a higher rate than in the rest of the state. In two of the last three years, Yakima migrant students graduated at a higher rate than even other students in the district.
Superintendent Trevor Greene is immensely proud of this work — and it’s all at risk if the federal government doesn’t act quickly to restore withheld funds that Greene was expecting to arrive July 1.
“We’re planning for the worst while we hope for the best,” Greene said.
The Trump administration’s decision nearly a month ago to withhold some $6.8 billion in education aid caused consternation in school districts nationwide, and the impact of that move is coming into focus. Among 628 superintendents who responded to a survey from the School Superintendents Association, nearly three-quarters said they would have to cut academic programming and half said they expect to lay off teachers and other employees if funding is not restored soon.
Even worse than the loss of funds is the timing, superintendents told Chalkbeat in interviews. They set their budgets months ago with every expectation that they would receive the federal funding, which is dedicated to teacher training, migrant education, English learner support, and enrichment programs. In some cases, districts had already gone through painful layoffs and program cuts to ensure they started the year with a balanced budget.
Then came a June 30 email from the White House Office of Management and Budget informing states that money would not be released. On July 18, that office announced it would release some $1.3 billion that helps pay for afterschool programming that parents rely on, but the rest of the money remains under review.
Among survey respondents, 73% said they have to make final decisions about personnel and programming by Aug. 15 or earlier. Some 85% said they have existing contracts that the missing federal funds were supposed to cover.
Some districts are already laying off staff. Others are spending down reserves, hoping the federal money shows up soon.
But it’s increasingly uncertain whether the Trump administration will release the rest of the money to districts — before the start of the school year or ever.
Politico and the conservative Daily Signal both reported that the White House plans to ask Congress to approve a rescission package that will include the withheld education funds, similar to one that clawed back $9 billion lawmakers had previously approved for foreign aid and public radio and television stations.
Sasha Pudelski, director of advocacy for the superintendents association, criticized that idea.
“Many Republican Senators don’t want to see their constituents lose what they carefully negotiated in March,” she said in a statement, referring to a previous budget agreement. “They understand the damage it would have on children in their districts and across the nation, if they pull these funds.”
But pulling these funds would be in line with the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year.
The Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment on the possibility of a rescission package, or an update on the review of education spending that the office previously said it was conducting.
‘The impact will be on class sizes’
In Yakima, Greene is short nearly $3.8 million. He thinks he can hold out until some time in September before starting to lay off staff. He already let go of nearly 200 employees since May 2024 — deep cuts in a district that employs some 2,000 people. The May deadline to notify certified staff of any reductions in force has already passed. That means cuts will fall almost entirely on employees not covered by that contract, which include some of the lowest-paid people.
In Pflugerville Independent School District just outside of Austin, Texas, Superintendent Quintin Shepherd is missing $1.6 million that helps cover 11 positions that support the district’s English learners. Those students include the children of workers drawn to local Tesla and Samsung facilities. Those positions are already under contract, which means Shepherd is committed to paying them whether the federal money shows up or not. Students also need those services, he said.
That means the district is looking at a growing budget deficit after careful work to get Pflugerville’s finances in order.
Serving English learners is “a federally required thing to do, and, by the way, good for the education of all students,” Shepherd said. “But now that has to somehow be absorbed into my budget. The impact will be on class sizes. The impact will be on peripheral programs because we have to make up that difference.”
In Harford County Public Schools north of Baltimore, Superintendent Sean Bulson had already laid off 160 people to start the school year with a balanced budget due to state and local funding challenges. Faced with ongoing teacher shortages, Harford County employs some 300 teachers who are not fully certified, people who have entered the profession through non-traditional routes and don’t have the same training and experience as licensed educators.
He’s especially worried about the loss of money for teacher training. These funds paid some of the best teachers to coach their less experienced colleagues through lesson planning, sit in classrooms and debrief at the end of a rough day, and help them make good use of student data.
Without these specialists, the newer teachers who make up roughly 10% of the workforce won’t be as effective, and students will suffer, Bulson said.
Bulson is holding steady for now, spending down reserves while he hopes that federal funds show up sometime this fiscal year.
“We wouldn’t be able to sustain this going forward,” he said.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
