California schools are scrambling as Trump administration withholds almost $811 million

By Tara García Mathewson and Carolyn Jones | Calmatters California school districts are short hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant money they had already budgeted for this year. While Congress approved the funds as part of its 2025 budget, the Trump Administration today refused to release them, sending districts across the country scrambling. The grant money pays for teacher professional development, after school and other enrichment programs, services for students learning English and migrant education. Across all five programs the money funds, California schools are due almost $811 million, according to an analysis by the Learning Policy Institute. Nationwide, the grants total $6.2 billion for K-12 schools. After Congress approves the total funding amounts, the U.S. Department of Education has historically discussed state-level allocations between March and May, releasing the money on July 1. On Monday, states received an email saying the department was still reviewing 2025 funding for the five affected programs. In many California districts, that money was built into school budgets this spring and administrators expected to start spending it this month and next. Without the money, some school districts will have to cancel teacher professional development events this summer and summer learning activities as...