Over $60M in federal funding for Nevada’s schools on hold

More than $60 million in federal funding is up in the air for Nevada schools, according to a memo from the U.S. Department of Education.

In a June 30 email to the Nevada Department of Education, the federal agency said it was reviewing certain grants — some of which fund after-school programming and English language learning — because of the change in administrations and would not release them by the July 1 deadline as it did in years past.

“The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities,” the department said in an email obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The move pauses $61 million in grants for Nevada, and nearly $7 billion around the country. The grants in question fund after-school programs, English-learner services, professional development and migrant education.

“The timing of the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to withhold funding for several important programs is unfortunate,” Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert said in an email. “While the funds were appropriated by Congress in March, the decision to hold the funds was announced one day before the money was set to be utilized. Also, this decision comes when we are close to the beginning of the upcoming school year.”

‘Anti-public education administration’

In a statement following the memo, the Nevada State Education Association, the local affiliate of the national union, called the Trump administration an “anti-public education administration.”

“Stripping away these resources forces schools to shoulder yet another round of unfunded mandates, deepening financial strain, and diminishing the quality of education for students in every classroom,” Dawn Etcheverry, the association’s president, said in a July 1 statement.

The union said school districts use the funds to pay for educator salaries, fulfill vendor contracts, purchase curriculum and technology, and more.

“These particular grants provide services to some of our most vulnerable students, this includes after-school opportunities, English Learner supports, and other academic enrichment programs,” Ebert said.

Sixteen percent of students in CCSD are English learners.

Next steps unclear

The Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency, said Wednesday that no decision had been made about the future of the funds.

“This is an ongoing programmatic review of education funding. Initial findings show that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement.

Ebert said the CCSD was working with politicians and the Nevada Department of Education to determine the next steps. The Nevada department said it would be in contact with school districts moving forward as it learned more information.

Other local, federal changes

The freezing of federal funds comes after Nevada’s legislative session approved far less education funding than originally forecast.

“Just weeks after Nevada’s Governor and Legislature approved a mere $2 increase in per-pupil funding, forcing districts to confront immediate budget shortfalls, this federal freeze creates yet another burden. Our schools are now under even greater pressure to maintain critical programs while trying to balance already strained budgets for the year ahead,” Etcheverry said.

Nevada’s nearly $1 billion in federal education funding also has been called into question given Trump’s repeated pledge to abolish the U.S. Department of Education.

The department cannot legally be closed without Congress’ approval, but Trump’s March executive order directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs and benefits on which Americans rely.”

A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked mass layoffs at the department with an injunction in May, stating that it amounted to the dismantling of the department without “an authorizing statute” — an order the Trump administration’s lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to review.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X.