Day camp providers and schools say that the funding freeze of the Trump administration can ruin summer for low -income American families and threatens some after -school programs next year.
The administration has held over $ 6 billion in federal grants for school and summer programs, English language instructions, adult literacy and more, as it conducts a review to ensure that the grant has been aligned with the priorities of President Trump.
This step creates uncertainty for states and schools as they make budgets for programs in this summer and upcoming school year because they do not know if they will get funding or not. Democrats say that the administration is a bang of law by keeping back the appropriated money in the form of Congress.
Without money, schools say they will not be able to provide free or cheap Later school care For low-income children while their parents work and cannot be able to hire employees who are learning English to teach children. Classes or camps running in this summer may also be in danger.
America’s boys and girls clubs depend on some of this funding to run their camps and other summer programming for low -income students. If it is not restored soon, the programming may end the mid-season, said Jim Clarke, president of the Boys and Girls Club.
School programming can also take a hit in the fall. “If these funds are blocked, the decline would be sharp and disastrous,” Clarke said. The group stated that 926 boys and girls clubs could be closed, which can affect more than 220,000 children.
The programs relying on the money were expecting to be distributed on 1 July, but the notice of an education department released on Monday announced that funds would not be released during the review of the programs. The department did not provide a timeline and warned that “decisions have not been made yet” on the grant for the upcoming school year.
Education Department officials wrote in the notice, “The department is committed to ensuring taxpayer resources, spent according to the priorities of the President and the statutory responsibilities of the department.”
The department mentioned questions to the management and the budget office, which did not respond to the request of the comment.
Andy Rice for Washington Post via Getty Image 
In Alabama’s Gadsden City Schools, officials say they will have no option but to close their post -school schedule, which serves students with less than 1,200 low income if Federal Fund is not released. Jenny Browning said that there is no other way for frozen federal money, which directs the program.
Families who rely on post-school programs will lose an important source of child care that keeps children safe and busy while their parents work. About 75 employees of post -district school programs can lose their jobs.
Browning said, “Those hours between school and 6 o’clock are actually the hours of the day when students are at the highest risk for things that cannot produce great results,” Browning said. “It would be destructive if we lose the lifeline of after school for our students and our families.”
Jodi Grant, Executive Director of the After School Alliance, said that stopping money could cause permanent harm to the economy.
Some advocates fear that the grant is being targeted for elimination, which may force schools to cut programs and teachers. Mr. Trump’s 2026 budget proposal Under the review, the Congress called to zero all the programs, indicating the administration, sees them as unnecessary.
Washington’s Democratic Sen Patty Murray pressured the Trump administration to spend money as Congress.
Murray said in a statement, “Every day this funding is a day that is forced to worry about the districts of the school whether they have to cut back in after school programs or teachers instead of worrying about how our children can succeed instead of worrying about how they can succeed.”
Under the review, six grant programs are known as the 21st century community teaching centers. According to the after school alliance, it is a primary federal funding source for school and summer teaching programs and supports more than 10,000 local programs across the country. Each state runs its own competition to distribute grants, which was a total of $ 1.3 billion in this financial year.
Also a review of $ 2 billion in grants for efforts to reduce the size of the teachers’ professional development and class size; $ 1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and mathematics education and quick learning; $ 890 million for English learning students; $ 376 million to educate children of migrant workers; And to teach $ 715 million adults to teach.
More than 20% of federal funds in these programs are received for K-12 education for Columbia district, Analysis Learning Policy Institute, by a think tank. Limbo in California alone is more than $ 800,000, while in Texas more than $ 660,000.
“Trump is illegally using billions of dollars approved by Congress to serve students in this financial year,” the State Superintendent of California said in a statement. “The administration is punishing the children when the state refuses to fulfill the political ideology of Trump.
“Loss of money” can put many more school districts in a lot of financial crisis, “said Chris Rekdal, a superintendent of public instructions in the state of Washington. “Rekadal said that the districts have already adopted the budget, planned programming and hired employees, assuming that they will receive money.
If the funding remains freeze, then English learning children and their parents will be particularly affected. Some districts use money to pay for summer programming designed for English learners, family engagement experts who can communicate with parents and professional development training for employees. Rural districts will be most difficult.
“They are trying to send a message,” Amaya Garcia said, who oversees education research in New America, a left-handed think tank. “They do not believe that taxpayer funding should be used for these children.”
Rural Eastern Oregon with a large population of Umatila School District – Migrant family And English learning students-their own school and summer school programs depend a lot on federal funds. Superintendent Heida Sips says she is soon meeting with state officials, to find out if the district will have to plan the initial end of the Summer School, one option is using 20% ​​of the students. Come to this decline, if the federal money remains frozen, it will have to close the employees and abolish the school programs participating by about half of the students in the district.
“This is an essential service in our community because we have no licensed child care centers for school-age children,” she said.
Sipe said that it is particularly disappointing to deal with these funds as the school district was in the midst of a five -year grant period.
“It seems to be stopped,” he said, “and it seems as if we can make a better job plan for American children.”
