School funding

After withholding roughly $900 million from California’s K-12 and adult schools, the U.S. Education Department said Friday that it will release the money starting next week. But schools must agree to certain conditions first.

Trump withheld about $7 billion in education funds for various school programs nationwide, including about $800 million for California.

California districts have not received Congressionally appropriated money for after school programs, academic enrichment, English-learner services, teacher professional development and migrant education.

School districts that can’t pass construction bonds have few other options to fund needed building repairs.

Schools had until March 2026 to spend remaining COVID relief money. The U.S. Department of Education cut those funds, amounting to about $200 million for California K-12 schools.

Rural school districts and counties are preparing for the potential loss of funding from the Secure Rural Schools program.

Last year California passed a law that prohibits schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender. The U.S. Department of Education alleges the law violates parents’ rights.

For the last century, the money has gone to counties with large amounts of federal land that can’t be taxed. Congress failed to include it in the upcoming budget.

Grant School District is hundreds of thousands of dollars into a project that is supposed to be reimbursed by the federal government. Now, it’s not clear the feds will pay.

In fact, those scores have decreased over time. That’s according to recent research examining public spending on education across the country, compared with reading and math test scores.

Oregon law restricts how much money schools can get from the state for students with disabilities. Lawmakers are considering raising the decades-old cap. A bill to eliminate the cap entirely is gaining traction.

Democratic and Republican U.S. legislators from Western states are joining forces to get the 20-years-old Secure Rural Schools bill reauthorized.