The Tucson Unified School District learned Friday it can now provide before and after-school programs for its students — just 17 days before the new school year begins.
The Education Department said Friday it will release $1.3 billion in frozen grant money, after Republican senators sent a letter earlier this week asking the Trump administration to send the funds to states.
TUSD requested $1.9 million for its programs at 22 schools, which provide care to families in need, said TUSD Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernández.
“This is really good news because our biggest concern was the direct impact the lack of care would have on kids and their families,” he said.
About $5.5 billion in grants still remains on pause — including those for English language education, teacher professional development, technology and mental health services.
“Make no mistake, this is part of their all out assault on public schools and has thrown our districts into chaos as they begin welcoming students back into their classrooms this week and next,” said Beth Lewis, director of Save our Schools Arizona.“We urge the Trump administration to release these funds immediately and to stop playing political games with children’s education.”
The funds — primarily earmarked for underserved students and families — were originally approved in March, but were frozen July 1 while the Office of Management and Budget reviewed them to ensure spending aligned with President Donald Trump’s priorities.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Republican senators said the withheld money supported programs with bipartisan support and were critical to local communities.
“We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,” the senators wrote to the Office of Management and Budget. “However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”
The administration’s review of the 21st Century grants, which supports after-school and summer programming, has been completed, a senior official said Friday. The person declined to be identified so they could share progress from the review. That funding will be released to states, the official said. The remaining grants continue to be reviewed for bias by the Office of Management and Budget.
Arizona should get about $24 million in 21st Century grants, the Arizona Department of Education said Friday.
“This is welcome news for these programs that would have been affected by the loss of federal dollars,” said Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. “Once we have formal notification from the federal government and allocations to schools are calculated, we will work very hard to pass these funds through to the recipients.”
About $94 million for Arizona schools is still paused, according to the Learning Policy Institute.
This week, Arizona and more than 20 other states filed a lawsuit challenging the freeze. The lawsuit, led by California, argued withholding the money was unconstitutional and many low-income families would lose access to critical after-school care if the grants were not released.
TUSD, the state’s third-largest school district with more than 40,000 students in 88 schools, still has $4 million in grants left hanging.
For now, coordinators and schools will continue pre-planning, Hernández said, adding the programs start in mid-to-late August. School begins Aug. 4.
“We can do that work now with those dollars,” he said. “This was going to hit some of our largest schools. We can now implement the plans we had.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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