Certain ED Grant Programs Face Payment Changes, Potential Terminations
It’s been a trying few weeks not only for the Department of Education (ED) — which the Trump administration has made no secret that he wishes to abolish — but also for some of the agency’s grant recipients as well.
Last week, ED stated that it was updating its policies related to the remaining $4.4 billion in state COVID-19 pandemic relief funding under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) and the American Rescue Plan Act (Pub. L. 117-2). In a one-paragraph memorandum to educational institutions, Acting Secretary of Education Denise Carter stated that “in the best interests” of the agency and “for the sake of oversight and efficiency,” the agency will shift all future payments related to this funding to its standard reimbursement payment structure. Therefore, these payments must be paid in advance by the states and then submitted to ED for reimbursement.
Previously, states could draw down funds on existing awards to pay for approved services. Noting that such services may not be “used for authorized purposes,” ED changed the requirements “to ensure taxpayer funds are expended responsibly, and will require states to keep the receipts to confirm this.”
Along with this change, the agency also said it was terminating various grant programs that it considered were not in support of the administration’s priorities. Among them included:
- $600 million in grants under teacher preparation programs focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI);
- $350 million in contracts and grants to several regional educational laboratories and equity assistance centers that supported DEI training; and
- $226 million that were awarded for grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program., which supported a network of regional and national centers funded to provide scalable “capacity-building” services to states and systems within their regions, and also supported DEI initiatives.
But wait! The U.S. District Court in Maryland on Feb. 21 issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing ED from enforcing parts of Executive Order (EO) 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, and EO 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. Specifically, ED cannot terminate all "equity-related" grants or contracts based on these EOs, and grantees do not need to certify that they do not operate DEI programs. The Court determined these are likely constitutional violations. On Mon, Feb. 24, however, the preliminary injunction was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. So now we continue to wait to see what the bottom line is on these grants.
Regardless, long-time ED workers that remain employed at the agency through all this turmoil and the employee reductions received a recent boost of confidence. More than 250 former ED officials, including four former ED secretaries, sent an open letter to the “dedicated civil servants … who have committed your careers to working on behalf of our nation’s learners.” “From Pell Grants to IDEA to Title I, you support state, local and institutional leaders who educate and protect our most vulnerable and underserved students,” according to the letter. “As you weather unprecedented attacks on the department, please know that your dedication and impact are recognized across this country. Our nation is better because of your hard work and commitment to ensuring every student, no matter their background, has the opportunity to thrive. It has been an honor to work alongside you, and we remain grateful for all that you do.” Among these signees on the letter were former ED secretaries Miguel Cardona, John King, Arne Duncan and Richard “Dick” Riley.
Trying times indeed. We’ll continue to follow the latest on ED, as well as all of the other federal agencies as more things develop.
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