Don’t Fall for Vought’s Tricks: Trump Continues to Steal from Public Schools Across the Country

More Than $5.5 Billion for Schools Remains Illegally Withheld Despite Ongoing Litigation and Bipartisan Opposition

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) released the following statement on President Trump’s continued unlawful withholding of funds promised to schools across the United States. While one of the frozen streams of funding for afterschool programs is being released – after Democrats and Republicans in Congress, schools, governors, and other state leaders spoke out – more than $5.5 billion for schools remains illegally withheld. 

These resources are provided on July 1 each year to help school districts across the country plan, budget, and spend federal resources for the upcoming school year, but Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has seized control of the Department of Education and is using children and students as pawns in efforts to control every taxpayer dollar, regardless of the law.

“President Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought continue to actively work to eliminate public education, kick teachers out of classrooms, and cause chaos in schools in every corner of the country. We should not be celebrating when President Trump and Russ Vought decide to follow the law. Even the temporary withholding of these funds caused chaos and harm. Weeks before the start of the school year, students, parents, and schools had to frantically plan what to do with students who need and were promised afterschool programs. Limited school resources were wasted trying to plan for and overcome this loss in funds.  

“There is still more than $5 billion in resources promised to public schools that the Trump administration is not releasing. There is no gray area and certainly no confusion with the law: Refusing to release these funds—passed by Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by the President—is illegal. 

“Yesterday, Russ Vought said, ‘The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan.’ The White House immediately disavowed his comments. It is clear that Russ Vought does not answer to President Trump. He does not answer to Republicans in the House or in the Senate. He was never elected by the American people, so he certainly does not answer to them. He continues to break the law—collecting more and more power—and Americans are paying the price. In this case, students, parents, schools, hardworking and middle class families are scrambling weeks before the start of the school year because one unelected man thinks he can ignore the law and decide what to do with every single taxpayer dollar. This is unacceptable. The rest of the unlawfully frozen funds must be immediately released.”

The Trump administration is still unlawfully withholding funding for the following education programs:

• Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II-A), which support professional development and other activities to improve the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, including reducing class size.
• Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV-A), which provide flexible funding for school districts for a wide range of activities, including supporting STEM education, accelerated learning courses, college and career counseling, school-based mental health services, and improving school technology, among many others.
• English Language Acquisition (Title III-A), which supports language instruction to help English language learners become proficient in English.
• Migrant Education (Title I-C), which supports the educational needs of migratory children, including children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
• Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants (including Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education State Grants), which support adult education and literacy programs to provide the basic skills to help prepare adults and out-of-school youth for success in the workforce.

DeLauro’s July 2, 2025, statement on the $7 billion originally frozen is here. 

Suspecting the unlawful withholding of Department of Education resources, Ranking Member DeLauro, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) sent a letter to Secretary Linda McMahon calling out the Department’s failure to provide public K-12 schools across the nation the timely notice they usually receive on this federal funding.

DeLauro and Murray later sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought calling out the Trump administration’s unacceptable failure to submit detailed spend plans for each agency to the Appropriations Committees, as the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2025 requires by law. 

This move is simply the latest step in President Trump’s efforts to eliminate public education. Ranking Member DeLauro and the Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 192 House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education.

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