Trump administration reverses course, will release frozen public school funding, NC leaders say

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson (Photo courtesy North Carolina Department of Justice)

By Corinne Saunders

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North Carolina leaders announced Friday afternoon that the Trump administration reversed course and will release the nearly $7 billion in public school funding across the nation it had frozen indefinitely the day before its scheduled July 1 release.

The decision came after North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, along with 24 other Democratic leaders representing other states and the District of Columbia, sued the Republican-led federal government over the freeze.

“National reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Education has backed down and is releasing all frozen funds—$6.8 billion nationwide, including $165 million for North Carolina—after we filed suit last week,” Jackson said in a Friday afternoon North Carolina Department of Justice press release.

“This should end weeks of uncertainty,” Jackson continued. “Our schools can now plan, hire and prepare for a strong year ahead. My absolute best wishes to our state’s 1.5 million students who are ready to make this their best year yet.”

The federal funding freeze impacted over $750,000 among the three public school districts across the Outer Banks area, Outer Banks Insider previously reported.

The funding is designated for specific programs, including teachers’ professional development, after-school programming, multilingual learner services and more.

North Carolina’s rural school districts were disproportionately impacted, according to a July 14 North Carolina Department of Justice press release announcing the lawsuit.

Hyde County Schools told Outer Banks Insider it was impacted by over $350,000, Dare County Schools had $232,809 frozen and Currituck County Schools saw $173,952 frozen.

Hyde County Schools encouraged community advocacy for “sustainable education funding” in a July 10 press release issued to all local media outlets after receiving Outer Banks Insider’s questions on the freeze on July 7.

Both the Hyde County Schools and Dare County Schools superintendents also noted the strain of uncertainty in state-allocated public school funding, which represents a much larger amount of funding.

“The state budget has not been passed for the past two years, and we are still awaiting one for the upcoming school year,” Dare County Schools Superintendent Steve Basnight told Outer Banks Insider. “This prolonged delay has created additional budgetary challenges and complications.”

Jackson expressed confidence in the lawsuit in a video he published on social media on July 14, the day he and other state leaders filed suit.

“We should win,” he said in the video, and called the federal freeze “totally illegal” because Congress created the programs and approved the funds.

“We just filed suit to protect $165m in education funding in NC and prevent the layoff of roughly 1,000 educators right before the school year starts,” Jackson wrote in his July 14 post.

The U.S. Department of Education announced a week after the lawsuit was filed that it would release the after-school program funding to the states, multiple media outlets reported.

Jackson said in a July 21 social media post that this would release $36 million of the $165 million total in North Carolina’s frozen funding, noting, “We’ll see them in court for the rest.”

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein in a Friday afternoon social media post thanked U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, originally of New Bern, “for releasing much-needed grant funding to help schools across NC better serve our kids.”

McMahon is the first defendant named in the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration.

Stein said the two had “a candid discussion about serving North Carolina’s children and families.”

He added, “I look forward to working together to expand workforce opportunities and making sure our kids have what they need to thrive.”

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