Trump review halts $11M in Tri-City school funds. These are the biggest impacts
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- Trump administration halts $11.4M in Tri-Cities school funds for review.
- Kennewick, Pasco and Grandview face largest losses, targeting migrant services.
- $137M in Washington school funding at risk, disrupting local budget planning.
More than $11 million in federal funds for Mid-Columbia school districts are being withheld by the Trump administration for “programmatic review” to ensure spending aligns with the Republican president’s agenda.
The move impacts school districts across the nation with the highest concentrations of poor, migrant and low-income students.
The dollars — which were supposed to be doled out to districts July 1 — pay for various programs including support for migrant students, teacher training, English language learning, academic enrichment and after-school grants.
The programs are Title I-C, Title II-A, Title III-A, Title IV-A and Title IV-B.
Most Tri-City school district offices are closer for the summer. They’ll have a lot to unpack if the money hasn’t arrived by the time many administrators and teachers get back in the office in August.
Kennewick adopted its 2025-26 school year budget in June, but Pasco and Richland are still working on theirs.
On Thursday, superintendents from around the state participated in an OSPI webinar to get information about the withholding and ask questions.
Washington schools are at risk of missing out on $137 million in crucial support funds. The funding amounts to nearly 16% of the state’s total federal K-12 funding.
Washington Superintendent Chris Reykdal said he and other state education chiefs were notified the day before July 1 that the funds would not be distributed. He called the decision “reckless.”
“This is a financial risk to districts because they’ve made programming and employment commitments with the assumption that they’d be receiving this funding. Losses of this amount, with such short notice and after local budgets have already been drafted and adopted by local school boards, have the potential to put several more school districts in extreme financial distress,” he said in a statement.
OSPI also released numbers showing how much in federal funding each school districts is at risk of losing. They’re based on the most recent school year funding levels.
The following is the $11.4 million in funding Tri-Cities area schools could miss out on.
- Kennewick: $3.59 million, or $195 per student.
- Pasco: $3.29 million, or $185 per student.
- Richland: $885,600, or $65 per student.
- Grandview: $1.45 million, or $416 per student.
- Prosser: $843,300, or $349 per student.
- North Franklin: $742,200, or $371 per student.
- Kiona-Benton City: $403,000, or $312 per student.
- Finley: $167,100, or $199 per student.
- Columbia: $111,500, or $148 per student.
- Washington state total: $137 million, or $99 per student.
Nearly half of what’s being withheld — about $5.5 million — from nine Tri-Cities school districts is for migrant services.
Kennewick, Pasco and Grandview enroll the lion’s share of students using migrant services and whose parents are here for seasonal work. That’s nearly 4,000 students.
The other funds amount to $2 million for teacher professional development, $1.8 million for English language learners, $1.5 for academic enrichment and $600,000 for after-school programs.
Kennewick School Board President Gabe Galbraith in a statement said now was the time for state leaders to work with the federal government to ensure students, educators and communities have the resources they need.
These funding delays are not part of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed before recessing for the July 4 holiday. These school dollars were approved for spending by Congress in March.
The Trump Administration says it is withholding nearly $7 billion across the 50 states to conduct a review to ensure federal education grants are being used in accordance with their priorities and legal obligations.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget says an initial review shows the money was “grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda,” according to reporting in Education Week.
But education advocates and leaders across the country are sounding the alarm, arguing that withholding the money will disproportionately harm the nation’s most vulnerable students and force districts to cut employees.
