WA Congress members demand feds release $137M in school funds: ‘Unacceptable’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Washington Democrats pressed the Education Department to release $137M in funds.
- Federal delay disrupts school budget planning and threatens key student programs.
- Lawmakers warn funding freeze harms working families and non-English speakers.
Washington Democratic Congress members are demanding answers after the Trump administration froze billions of dollars of education funding nationwide, including nearly $137 million meant for the Evergreen State’s public schools.
U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland led her colleagues in writing a letter advocating for the release of those federal funds to Washington by Aug. 1. The money is used to maintain after-school and English-language-learning programs, teacher professional development and family and student support.
“Without these funds, teachers will lose access to the resources they need to encourage and empower student success in their classrooms,” the lawmakers wrote.
Joining Strickland in signing the letter were six other Democratic Congress members from Washington: U.S. Reps. Adam Smith, Kim Schrier, Pramila Jayapal, Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen and Emily Randall. Noticeably absent: Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
Withholding the funds, which Congress had appropriated, will put school administrators in a serious bind, the representatives wrote. It will hamper public schools’ ability to finalize budgets and make choices about programs and staffing for the 2025-26 school year.
The lawmakers say the move also will hurt working families who rely on after-school programming and further disadvantage non-English speaking students.
Strickland, whose district encompasses parts of Pierce and Thurston counties, also railed against the federal-funding move in a July 10 post on X. She wrote that Education Secretary Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump “are stealing $137M from WA schools.”
“That is unacceptable and absurd,” Strickland said.
McClatchy emailed the Department of Education, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the White House seeking comment on the letter, which was addressed to McMahon and OMB Director Russell Vought. The Department of Education referred McClatchy to OMB.
An OMB spokesman replied Friday morning with the same statement that had been sent to McClatchy on July 2, after news first broke of the federal funding freeze. The statement explains that this is an ongoing programmatic review of funding for education, and that initial findings indicate that many such grant programs “have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda.”
Examples provided by OMB include New York public schools allegedly using funds for English Language Acquisition to “promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations.” The spokesman also claimed that in Washington, funds were used to “direct illegal immigrants towards scholarships intended for American students.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "WA Congress members demand feds release $137M in school funds: ‘Unacceptable’."
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