LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Michigan Division of Schooling (MDE) faces dropping over $40 million in funding until the U.S. Division of Schooling reverses its budget-cutting choice.
The MDE experiences that the company acquired a message from U.S. Division of Schooling Secretary Linda McMahon, saying that the deadline for reimbursement requests for Coronavirus Response and Reduction Supplemental Appropriations and American Rescue Plan funds had been modified.
The deadline was moved from March 28, 2026, to Friday, March 28, at 5:00 p.m. The MDE acquired this message shortly after the deadline had expired.
The MDE experiences that out of greater than $40 million, the company has already paid roughly $24.2 million to the districts based mostly on spending experiences.
A number of districts match into this class, together with Flint, which requested $15.6 million and has acquired $14.2 million.
“Without a reversal from the U.S. Department of Education, the districts may not be paid the remaining approximately $17.8 million,” stated the MDE in a information launch despatched to six Information.
All $40 million is in jeopardy until the U.S. Division of Schooling agrees to honor the earlier extension settlement.
The MDE says the message from the U.S. Division of Schooling said that they’d take into account requests for extensions on a person, project-specific foundation.
State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice launched the next assertion in response to funding pullback:
Strolling again a federal dedication to pandemic reduction funds to enhance the air high quality, healthfulness, and security of colleges popping out of the pandemic is unacceptable. Michigan’s kids stand to lose greater than $40 million. Twenty-seven districts throughout the state have preapproved monetary obligations that met standards set by the U.S. Division of Schooling for extending the districts’ deadlines to request reimbursement of those funds. As a substitute, Secretary McMahon and the Trump Administration abruptly withdrew approval. These funds have been accepted to be spent on initiatives together with heating, air flow, and air-con (HVAC) methods, boilers, and home windows. The 27 districts entered contracts with the understanding that their preapproved initiatives could be reimbursed by the federal authorities. A change in administrations shouldn’t void earlier commitments. With out the promised March 2026 date for federal reimbursement requests, districts could also be pressured to scale back educational expenditures for college kids, diminish financial savings, or each to honor these contracts.
The U.S. secretary of training must rethink her March 28 communication. U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the Home Schooling and the Workforce Committee, and Michigan’s different members of Congress should insist that federal commitments to varsities and districts that they symbolize be honored.
State Board of Schooling President Dr. Pamela Pugh added the next: “As a public well being skilled for a few years, it’s a specific affront to me that the U.S. Division of Schooling would stroll again its dedication to initiatives that shield the well being and security of our college students—together with for faculties in communities similar to Flint, Pontiac, and Benton Harbor that have been hit particularly arduous by COVID-19. These federally funded initiatives are essential to college students and workers in our districts in Michigan and throughout the nation. To cancel funding approval on no discover and to inform districts that they might apply for a second approval from the U.S. Division of Schooling to entry these funds, with totally different standards, has nothing to do with service to schoolchildren
State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice
