Mississippi schools and the state education system are set to lose over $137 million in federal funds after the U.S. Department of Education halted access to pandemic-era grant money, state leaders said this week.
In a Wednesday letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Mississippi Superintendent of Education Lance Evans said the federal education department failed to provide states with required notice that it would cut of access to funds committed to schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools were already using the money to pay for a range of initiatives, including literacy and mathematics programs, mental health services, construction projects for outdated school facilities and technology for rural districts.
“This unexpected change creates a severe hardship for Mississippi’s students, educators, and school communities,” Evans wrote. “These are not merely numbers on a spreadsheet; they represent critical services and supports that directly benefit our most vulnerable students …”
The abrupt loss of funds sent Mississippi public and private school leaders rushing to brace for the impact of wide ranging cuts. By Friday, some were already forced to fire grant-funded teachers, coaches and nurses.
At St. Richard Catholic School in Jackson, Father Joe Tonos and Principal Russ Nelson said the school would lose approximately $1.5 million, funds that pay staff salaries and fund programs for mental health. All schools staffers who were employed through grants were to be fired by Friday.
“This funding was not just a budgetary line item; it was a transformational support system for our school,” Nelson wrote in a memo reviewed by Mississippi Today. “Without it, we are facing difficult decisions and significant setbacks in our mission to provide a high-quality, supportive education for every student.”
McMahon set off panic when she declared in a March 28 letter state education heads that schools would lose the federal COVID-19 relief money they originally thought they would be able to spend until 2026.
President Donald Trump’s administration has made deep cuts to government programs, cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and other funding to states, a priority McMahon cited as a justification for the education cuts in her letter.
“Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion,” McMahon wrote.
McMahon indicated the federal education department might consider keeping funds available on a project-by-project basis.
The money was awarded to help schools across the country recover from the disruption wrought by the pandemic. Schools began hiring new staff members, creating new education programs and planning new projects under the assumption they had until 2026 to access the federal money
Phillip Burchfield, executive director of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents, said the federal government’s decision to move up the deadline will force schools to find money for projects that are already underway.
“Some districts have already received the money and spent it,” Burchfield said. “Where it’s becoming problematic is … services have been committed to, but the money has not yet been received, so it puts districts in a little bit of a bind to come up with the money.”
The back and forth between Mississippi education leaders and the Trump administration unfolded on the same week state lawmakers left the state Capitol without reaching agreement on an annual budget to fund the state education department and other agencies.
Mississippi is one of the most federally dependent states in the nation.
Superintendent Evans said he has asked the federal government to reinstate access to the money.
Mississippi Today’s Kate Royals contributed to this report.
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