Mississippi school districts are grappling with the fallout of the Trump administration’s decision to freeze roughly $137 million in federal money and are hoping the U.S. Department of Education will reverse the decision. 

Around 70 school districts were relying on the federal Department of Education’s decision under the Biden administration to allow them to spend federal pandemic grant money through next year. 

But new U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon notified state and local officials last month that the Trump administration was immediately cutting off the money. 

Schools were already spending the money on a range of initiatives, including literacy and mathematics programs, mental health services, construction projects for outdated school facilities, and technology for rural districts.

“We’re really counting on all of our state and federal leaders to understand the predicament that we’re in as local school districts and do whatever it takes to get the federal government to honor this extension,” said Lawrence Hudson, the superintendent of Western Line School District in the Delta. 

Hudson told Mississippi Today that his school district had already utilized federal money to renovate the heating and air systems in three old buildings in the district — two former Army barracks and a double-wide trailer — which had inferior ventilation. 

The district also planned to use the money to improve ventilation in another building. However, it was unable to complete the project by the original deadline because it needed to take place during the summer break when the kids were not in the building. 

Now those plans have been disrupted. Hudson said the district will have to find other money to pay for the project. 

Lance Evans, the Mississippi Superintendent of Education, wrote a letter to McMahan saying the federal government failed to provide adequate notice that it would cut off access to money committed to schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the action has put school districts like Hudson’s in a bind. 

Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications for the federal education department, told Mississippi Today in a statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is over and “school districts can no longer claim they are spending their emergency pandemic funds on ‘COVID relief.’” 

“The Department will consider extensions on an individual project-specific basis where it can be demonstrated that funds are being used to directly mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on student learning,” Biedermann said. 

Jackson Public School District, one of the largest districts in the state, has approximately $4.5 million in encumbered funds at risk due to the federal government’s decision, according to Earl Burke, the district’s Chief Operations Officer.

Of that amount, JPS had $3.6 million allocated for critical construction projects and just under $1 million designated for instructional support. 

“That said, despite our best efforts, it is important to note that some construction projects may not be completed by the start of the school year due to this shift in funding availability,” Burke said. 

The funding crunch also comes on the heels of Mississippi legislators voting to end their 2025 session without setting an annual budget. 

Mississippi is one of the most federally dependent states in the nation, and the Trump administration, through its Department of Government Efficiency, has made slashing government spending one of its priorities. 

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said in recent interviews that legislative leaders might consider assisting state agencies that have been affected by federal funding cuts.

Whatever decisions federal and state leaders make, smaller school districts that received the federal money will be impacted. 

The Benton County School District, located in rural northeast Mississippi, completed a heating and air conditioning project for one of its buildings, according to Superintendent Regina Biggers. The district paid for the project but was banking on the federal government reimbursing it around $166,000, something that may not now happen. 

“This was a tremendous amount of money for a district our size,” Biggers said. 

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