State: U.S. terminated $106 million in Mass. K-12 education grants

The Trump administration on Friday terminated $106 million in K-12 education grants for Massachusetts, the Healey administration said Tuesday, calling it an "illegal move."

In a press release, Gov. Maura Healey's office said the U.S. Department of Education notified all states at 5:03 p.m. Friday of its decision, effective at 5 p.m., to "end the federal Education Stabilization Fund liquidation period."

Healey's office said the decision terminated more than $2 billion in grants across 41 states, and asserted that "the Trump Administration had just reaffirmed that Massachusetts had until March 2026 to spend the funds."

According to Healey's office, the funds were intended to address pandemic-related learning loss, support building upgrades to address security and improve air quality, and to support professional development for educators, including helping emergency teacher license holders stay employed in public schools.

In a letter Friday to state education officials, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote that "extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."

"After careful review, the Department is modifying the liquidation period to end on March 28, 2025," McMahon wrote. "The Department has concluded that the further extension of the liquidation period for the aforementioned grants, already well past the period of performance, was not justified. You and your subrecipients have had ample time to liquidate obligations."

The governor's office included in its press release statements from top Democrats in the Legislature.

"The Trump administration pretends to champion education by claiming it wants to empower states, but in reality, it is actively sabotaging states' ability to support our most vulnerable students," House Speaker Ronald Mariano said. "Canceling funds that schools have already built into their budgets is reckless, and shows a blatant disregard for the needs of our students and schools."

Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler told WBUR Tuesday that the administration's decision to terminate the liquidation period early took him and the rest of the state executive team by "deep surprise."

“These are grants that the Trump administration approved in February and then summarily — and with no real rationale — pulled the rug on a month and change later,” he said. “And I just expect better of the federal government and our leadership.”

Tutwiler added that the decision puts many Massachusetts districts in a tough spot because the grants are paid back to districts as reimbursements.

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said the money was going to fund projects like literacy supports for students, tutoring, building improvements like installing air conditioning, and teacher professional development. "These are programs that are underway and committed to, so we're hoping there's a way to challenge it," he told WBUR.

Tutwiler said the Healey administration has not decided whether the state will take legal action.

Districts affected by the cuts primarily serve cities, and include Springfield ($47.3 million), New Bedford ($15.6 million), Fitchburg ($6.6 million) and Revere ($4.6 million).

Everett Public Schools is set to lose nearly $4.9 million in grant funding. The money was designated for an unstarted project related to the district’s capital planning and had nothing to do with teaching or instruction, according to David O’Connor, the director of communications.

“We are not faced with having to consider, let alone enact, any reductions in services or programming, either in the immediate term or as we begin the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Process,” he told WBUR in an email. O’Connor added that there are no indications at this time that the project is off the table and said the district is receiving guidance from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on the impacts of the decision.

Fitchburg Public Schools will lose $6.5 million in grant funding that would have gone towards improving HVAC system and air quality upgrades at Memorial Middle School and South Street Early Childhood Learning Center, according to a statement provided by the superintendent’s office Tuesday.

"These critical projects were developed in direct response to COVID-19 to improve ventilation and air quality for our youngest learners," the statement read.

The district and the city are scheduled to complete the more than three-year long process this summer, when ventilators are expected to be installed in the schools. The Fitchburg statement added the state has indicated it will "continue to operate on a reimbursement basis for these funds while assessing next steps."

Glenn Koocher, the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said he expects districts will likely put pressure on the state to help recover their losses, though Tutwiler said it won't be possible to recoup all of the lost federal dollars.

“A lot of people are confused, they're angry, they're disappointed," Koocher said. "There's enough fear out there to begin with that we don't have to add fiscal trauma to everything else that the schools and kids are dealing with."

With reporting from State House News Service's Michael P. Norton, as well as WBUR's Carrie Jung and Chinanu Okoli.