Students in Woodbury attend classes in three school districts that have had over $1 million of their federal funding frozen. The Trump Administration is holding back money for certain grants and programs approved by Congress and distributed through the U.S. Department of Education.
The frozen funding amounts to $74 million for Minnesota, including:
- $583,000 for North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale Schools (District 622)
- $330,000 for South Washington County Schools (District 833)
- $233,000 for Still Water Area Schools (District 834)
The pause has so far included Title II-A grants for educator instruction, Title IV-B grants for after-school programming, Title IV-A grants for student support, Title III-A funding for English Language Acquisition, Title I-C funding for migrant education and grants for adult education, according to the Education Department’s memo to Congress. The funding gap may impact summer programming as well as services in September.
A Trump administration spokesperson told ABC News that the national funding was paused because schools “grossly misused” government funds to promote a “radical left-wing agenda” and that they were reviewing the allocated money in light of the president’s priorities.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general and two governors in filing a lawsuit that argues that Congress, not the executive branch, has the power to appropriate funds and withholding the money violates federal statutes.
“Donald Trump’s Department of Education is pulling the rug out from under Minnesota students by cutting school funding without warning… violating the law by doing so,” Ellison said in a news release.
