Hirono, Senate Democrats demand release of for $6.8B in education funds

US Sen. Mazie Hirono joined 32 Senate Democrats last week in demanding the immediate release of $6.8 billion in federal education funding that the Trump administration withheld last week—just ahead of the 2025–26 school year.

In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget director, the senators criticized the administration’s decision to withhold funds for K-12 schools and adult literacy programs, calling the move illegal and “beyond comprehension.”

The letter was sent days before Hawaiʻi and 23 other states, along with the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s move.

“We are writing to demand an immediate end to the illegal withholding of nearly $7 billion in federal education formula grant funds our states and communities are expecting for the coming school year,” the senators wrote.

The funds initially were made available by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, signed into law on March 2025. At the time, this Continuing Resolution (CR) averted a government shutdown and provided discretionary federal funding through Sept. 30, 2025.

That bill allocated funding to the US Department of Education at approximately FY24 levels, per Education Counsel, an education consulting firm. Funding for specific individual programs were not included; CRs do not explicitly set spending directives.

Despite the availability of funds, the US Department of Education announced on June 30 that it would not obligate money for six key education formula grant programs when the new fiscal quarter began on July 1. This notice came with no prior warning to state education agencies, leaving school systems that expected the funds scrambling just weeks before the start of the 2025–26 school year.

A Trump administration official said the move was part of a programmatic internal review, and that it was incorrect to characterize the administration’s move as a “freeze.”

The affected funds, the senators’ said, would have went to English learner services, migrant education, after-school programs, professional development and various other academic supports. The senators’ said it impacts programs authorized under Titles I, II, III and IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as well as funding for adult education programs.

Overall, the amount withheld represents at least 10% or more of states’ overall K-12 federal revenues, according to the nonpartisan Learning Policy Institute.

Some school districts have already warned that they will have to end afterschool programs, and others have told parents to prepare backup options, while adult literacy programs have already been forced to lay off staff.

“This rash decision will only worsen school working conditions and teacher shortages,” the senators’ letter said, adding that more than 1.4 million students rely on impacted afterschool programs and 1.2 million adults could lose access to essential literacy and job-readiness services.

In a Wednesday statement by Hirono regarding the senators’ letter, she claimed many of the education programs affected are ones that President Trump has repeatedly proposed eliminating in past budget requests. She said it raises “serious concerns” about the administration’s “intentions to simply impound the funding.”

In addition to Hirono, the letter was signed by Sens. Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, Tammy Baldwin, Chuck Schumer, Brian Schatz and 26 other Democratic senators.

The full text of the letter is available here.