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Trump administration should reverse decision to withhold school grants, Escobar and other House Democrats say [1]
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Date: 2025-07-11
Rep. Veronica Escobar and 150 other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives criticized the Trump administration’s move to suspend billions of dollars in federal grants to local schools, including more than $19 million in El Paso County.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, candidate for District 16 U.S. representative.
“This unnecessary delay of education funding, which accounts for at least 10 percent of federal K-12 funding in every state, is alarming parents, local elected officials, and education agencies,” the House Democrats said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. “It is disrupting school and district planning, jeopardizing the education of millions of students, and is already resulting in layoffs as well as program delays and cancellations. Further, it is causing concern to adult education programs that are faced with similar decisions without immediate access to expected funding.”
The Trump administration announced in late June that it was suspending more than $6 billion in five grant programs to local schools across the country that were funded by Congress. The grants provide money for programs for English-language learners, children of migrant workers, adult education and after-school programs
The administration said it was pausing the grants after finding indications they “have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda.” The statement gave purported examples but didn’t provide specifics to support the claims.
When asked for response to the Democrats’ letter, an OMB spokesperson sent El Paso Matters the agency’s previous comment. “As stated before, this is an ongoing programmatic review and no decisions have been made yet,” the spokesperson said.
An El Paso Matters survey of the five largest school districts in the county – El Paso, Socorro, Ysleta, Clint and Canutillo – showed they were expecting to receive $19 million from the grants this month, amounting to just over 1% of their total budgets for the year.
The Trump administration announced the grant suspension on June 30, a day before it had been expected to release the funding to state governments, who then pass it on to local school districts. The Democrats’ letter questioned the last-minute nature of the decision.
“This late-breaking decision, which provided no timeline for which states can expect a final decision, is leaving states financially vulnerable and forcing many to make last minute decisions about how to proceed with K12 education in this upcoming school year,” the letter said.
“There is no legitimate reason why any review of these programs should prevent the administration from fulfilling its responsibility to the American people on time. No more excuses – follow the law and release the funding meant for our schools, teachers, and families,” the Democratic House members said.
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2025/07/11/veronica-escobar-housedemocrats-criticize-school-funding-freeze-trump-administration/
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