By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and 17 other democratic governors signed a letter addressed to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, demanding the relinquishment of nearly $7 billion in school funds.
The U.S. Department of Education told states in June that it intends to delay payments for several federally funded programs while they are under review, resulting in nearly $43 million in delayed payments and a pervasive uncertainty for Kansas schools.
The governors said the decision has “no justification” and creates “unnecessary chaos.”
“This delay is not a matter of administrative discretion,” the letter said. “It is a failure to fulfill the Department’s most basic responsibility to implement the law and distribute Congressionally-appropriated funding.”
Under normal circumstances, the Kansas State Department of Education would have received word by July 1 that federal funds would be trickling down to states for the upcoming school year, said Randy Watson, the state education commissioner, in a July 8 statement. Instead, late in the day on June 30, which also happened to be the final day of the fiscal year, the federal department told Watson the funding wasn’t coming through.
Watson said he was particularly worried about rural schools.
He said that rural school districts will be acutely affected by delays, most significantly by a $15.8 million payment for professional development efforts for educators and administrators and a $8.3 million payment aimed at improving student support and achievement outcomes. Most rural schools are allowed flexibility to spend the dollars from those programs at their discretion.
“We don’t know when the review of these and other programs will be completed or if we will receive the already approved funding,” Watson said.
He said he had no information on a timeline for when funds could be released, if at all. He advised school districts to plan accordingly.
Additional delays included $6.2 million for migrant education, $4.8 million for English language learners and $7.8 million for before- and after-school programs.
Migrant education focuses on supporting students whose families have seasonal jobs that require them to move to different areas, like fishery or food processing jobs.
English language learners are the fastest-growing population of public school students in Kansas, the department said, and school districts are required under civil rights law to ensure English language learners have the same access to education as their English-speaking peers. In the 2023-2024 school year, 9.4% of the nearly 480,000 students in Kansas public schools were English language learners, said Denise Kahler, a spokeswoman for the state education department.
Federal funding for before- and after-school programs often benefits low-performing or low-income schools, offering services to help students meet academic outcomes and involve families in their students’ educations.
In a separate communication, Watson discovered that the adult basic education and literacy programs, which are administered by the Kansas Board of Regents, were also put on pause by the federal education department.
Kelly, who is also the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said the Trump administration’s decision to withhold funding harms students and schools.
“This funding is essential to support student learning, teacher training and preparation, and afterschool programs that working parents rely on, especially in rural areas,” she said. “At a time when teachers should be focused on the upcoming school year, the presidential administration’s failure to release Congressionally appropriated funds undermines our shared responsibility to provide every student with a world-class education.”
State agencies have taken major hits under the Trump administration’s directives to cut costs and to gut programs associated with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The federal education department froze more than $22 million in funds earlier this year, which were eventually released.
Amid the fiscal uncertainty, university presidents, state board of education members and state legislators are all set to see increased salaries.
