After-school special: Latest Trump funding freeze hits summer classes mid-swing

The Hill

9 hours ago

The Trump administration is effectively shutting down a vast swath of summer programming and after-school activities after it froze more than $6 billion of funding to these programs this week.
Schools and organizations across the country have already informed parents to look at alternative options for their children, saying if the funding isn't released soon many activities will be canceled immediately.
And the options to mount a legal challenge or find other funding sources seem limited, as lawsuits take time and many states have already set their budgets for the year.
In Augusta, Ga., where more than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, 1,100 kids daily go the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta, with around 200 employees ensuring the programming runs smoothly.
'We have summer camps rolling right now. I'm depending on a reimbursement in July … If we don't get that, we have kids who won't be served,' said Kim Evans, the organization's president and CEO, adding her group typically receives $3 million from the federal government a year.
'We also have staff who are concerned about whether or not they're going to have a job,' Evans said.
A Gallup poll found that 30 million students were involved in some kind of summer session in 2024. An estimated 3.3 million went to summer school, according to Think Impact.
And 13 percent of K-12 students participate in after-school programming, according to federal data.
The programs received no heads up before the Education Department sent out memos that the funding would be paused, with no timeline for when it could be eventually released.
The White House has said it is reviewing the funds due to alleged abuse and peddling a 'left-wing radical agenda.'
'This is an ongoing programmatic review of education funding. Initial findings have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda. In one case, NY public schools used English Language Acquisition funds to promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations. In another, Washington state used funds to direct illegal immigrants towards scholarships intended for American students,' said a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget.
'In yet another, School Improvement funds were used to conduct a seminar on 'queer resistance in the arts.' As stated before, this is an ongoing programmatic review and no decisions have been made yet,' the spokesperson added.
But the clock is ticking. Evans said normal operations won't be able to last longer than a month before her group will have to start reducing the number of students served, programs offered and potentially staff on the payroll.
Heidi Sipe, superintendent of the Umatilla School District in Oregon, said she has already sent out a message to families urging them to look at alternative after-school options for their kids if funding isn't restored. For roughly 20 years, after-school programs at the district were funded through the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, allowing half of the student body to attend one or more after-school sessions every year.
'We started this program because of the great need that [parents] had, and that hasn't changed in that period of time. And so, they will really be put in a pretty precarious situation as they try to figure out how to best take care of their children during that gap between when school releases and when they are home,' Sipe said, adding more than 700 students attended one or more of the six week sessions offered throughout the school year.
The programs offered at the school include the STEAM Academy of Umatilla, which focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, arts and math, but also remedial academic help such as homework assistance or tutoring.
Frantic talks about what to do are ongoing at programs nationwide, but advocates are not optimistic about alternative funding options right now.
Trying to raise the money organically in such a short amount of time is an impossible task, Evans said, and lawsuits take months to years to get through the courts.
While a switch in priorities between presidential administrations is typical, Sipe said the federal government, normally, will let the contract time run its course instead of immediately taking away the money.
'What's abnormal this time is that it's happening in the middle of a grant cycle. So, instead of future grant opportunities not being available and us having a couple of years as this grant cycle finishes out, to be able to plan for that — instead, it's right in the middle of our grant cycle,' said Sipe.
'We don't have the opportunity at a month's notice, basically, to secure over $500,000 worth of funding. That's not something that's going to happen in a month. And so unfortunately, that will mean the end of after school, as we currently know it, for our community, until we can develop some sort of solution, if that's possible,' she added.
That abruptness been a common theme in the Trump administration's funding cuts, with multiple contract cancellations that have thrown K-12 and higher education leaders into a tailspin.
Sixteen Democratic-led states sued this week over the Trump administration's $1 billion in cuts to mental health resources for schools. Teacher preparation programs and funding for education research were also suddenly pulled at the beginning of the administration, while colleges and universities have lost billions of dollars in funding.
And more is likely on the way as Secretary of Education Linda McMahon looks to shutter the Department of Education.
The administration has listed a range of concerns to explain its cuts and freezes. Some of the money, it says, has gone to funding left-wing priorities, such as gender identity, or issues that should not be under the purview of the federal government. Some universities are being punished specifically for their alleged inaction against antisemitism.
The latest round of cuts, however, surprised Jodi Grant, executive director of Afterschool Alliance.
'In many ways, these programs align with the president's agenda. They're community-based, they're locally driven, state-level, and, another piece, they're voluntary. So parents choose to have their kids go to these programs … We were actually hopeful that the Trump administration would help create more opportunities in this space,' Grant said.
'The whole campaign around Make America Healthy Again … after school is a place where kids have all sorts of opportunities to engage in physical activity, whether it's soccer or baseball,' Grant added. 'There's just many things in our programming that align with this administration's priorities.'