Trump administration moves to release billions in federal education cash

The Trump administration said Friday it will release billions of dollars in education funding that have been on hold for review for weeks, according to a senior administration official.

Approximately $1.3 billion in money for after-school programs was released by the administration last week, with Friday’s move marking the release of the remaining portion of the nearly $7 billion in funding that the administration withheld. The remaining dollars include money to support teacher preparation and students learning English, among other initiatives.

The administration says it has now installed “guardrails” for the federal cash so that grantees will not use the funding in violation of any of President Donald Trump’s executive orders or policies of his administration, the official said.

The release comes after bipartisan pressure on the White House Office of Management and Budget from Capitol Hill, after the withholding of cash left state education leaders and local school districts scrambling.

“The education formula funding included in the FY2025 Continuing Resolution Act supports critical programs that so many rely on,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the subcommittee overseeing education spending, said in a statement Friday. “The programs are ones that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support.”

The West Virginia Republican led a group of prominent Republican senators, pressing White House budget chief Russ Vought to release the school aid, in a notable intraparty challenge to the administration.

The freeing up of funding was lauded by several other Republican lawmakers on Friday.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said the release will “undoubtedly have a positive impact” on his state and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who also pressed for the cash, praised the decision.

The White House had faced mounting pressure from federal, state and local leaders to distribute the education cash amid growing concerns from districts about plugging budget holes in the absence of the federal dollars Congress approved for fiscal 2025.

“There is no good reason for the chaos and stress this president has inflicted on students, teachers, and parents across America for the last month, and it shouldn’t take widespread blowback for this administration to do its job and simply get the funding out the door that Congress has delivered to help students,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement Friday.

“This administration deserves no credit for just barely averting a crisis they themselves set in motion,” the Washington Democrat added.

Juan Perez Jr. contributed to this report.