The U.S. Department of Education announced last week it plans to re-evaluate the funding for more than $40 million in federal reimbursements for a series of Michigan school infrastructure projects.
State Superintendent Michael F. Rice and State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh said the potential cuts will harm Michigan students and schools.
“Walking back a federal commitment to pandemic relief funds to improve the air quality, healthfulness, and safety of schools coming out of the pandemic is unacceptable,” Rice said in a statement.
Throughout the state, 27 districts have “pre-approved financial obligations” that would have applied for federal reimbursement. Some of those (about $24.2 million worth of projects) were paid by the Michigan Department of Education, while others have not even sought payment yet.
“All $40 million is in jeopardy unless the U.S. Department of Education agrees to honor the previous extension approval request from the federal government,” the state department said in a statement.
The federal funding for those reimbursements was promised as a part of COVID-19 aid packages, specifically the 2021 Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Linda McMahon, U.S. secretary of education, said in a letter to the state education departments that the funding is in jeopardy because of a failure to “meet the clear deadline.”
“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 said. “You were entitled to the full award only if you liquidated all financial obligations within 120 days of the end of the period of performance. You failed to do so. Any reliance on a discretionary extension subject to reconsideration by the agency was unreasonable.”
While the previous administration set the extension deadline to March 28, 2026, McMahon’s letter, which was dated for March 28, announced the extension was immediately amended to March 28, 2025. According to the state, the Michigan Department of Education received this information after the new deadline was already past.
Each project, including the 27 in Michigan, will now have to re-file to be considered for an extension, which will be given on “an individual project-specific basis.” The state department said it would work with districts to go about applying for each district’s outstanding federal funds.
This move is a part of a broader initiative from the Trump administration to cut back on federal spending, which has specifically targeted the U.S. Department of Education and the programs it manages.
Pugh pushed back on the cuts.
“These federally funded projects are important to students and staff in our districts in Michigan and across the country,” she said. “To cancel funding approval on no notice and to tell districts that they may apply for a second approval from the U.S. Department of Education to access these funds, with different criteria, has nothing to do with service to schoolchildren.”
The funded upgrades included capital projects like HVAC systems, boilers, and windows.
A recently-released report from the School Finance Research Foundation found that Michigan’s school infrastructure is greatly out-dated, needing “approximately $22.8 billion to bring Michigan public school buildings to a common standard of health, safety, and wellness through the year 2033.”
According to the report, federal funding provides “crucial support” for school upgrades and maintenance.
