From left, Democrats Rep. Jarrod Ousley, Rep. Nikki McDonald and Rep. Valdenia Winn appeared at an April 9, 2025, press conference slamming state and national Republican leadership for cuts to education. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — A directive from the U.S. Department of Education immediately froze more than $22 million in federal funding meant to help Kansas students recover from pandemic-era learning loss.
The freeze hasn’t yet reached classrooms, but the state recognizes that could change and is asking officials to give the funds back.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told state education officials across the country in a March 28 letter that any states that received an extension to dole out money from the Education Stabilization Fund, which was a $276 billion federal investment into schools’ COVID-19 recovery efforts, had to stop work immediately.
McMahon said state education departments and recipients of the funds have had “ample time” to use them.
“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.
What exactly the federal department wants has been a shifting target. But the Kansas State Department of Education administration quickly responded, detailing how every dollar of the $22.6 million is meant to be used and how the funds have benefited Kansas children.
The state had “quite a few contracts outstanding” when McMahon sent out her demands, said KSDE’s general counsel, Scott Gordon, at an April 8 Kansas State Board of Education meeting.
KSDE sent the letter to the federal government April 4 explaining the functions of the eight projects that are now on pause and urging reconsideration, which will be on a case-by-case basis.
“The U.S. Department of Education would potentially change their mind a fourth time and allow us to have that extra time that they had already previously approved,” Gordon said.
The state’s letter went through more than 15 drafts, according to Gordon.
“The funds are essential for completing projects that directly address academic development for students,” KSDE’s letter said. “These include statewide literacy and math professional development, assessment systems to students and critical investments in educator and leadership capacity.”
In the meantime, the state told every program using the funds from the extension to stop any activity that would incur further costs.
Jake Steel, the director of strategy and operational alignment in the Kansas education commissioner’s office, said Kansas classrooms haven’t yet been affected, but the longer the feds take to respond, the likelihood that classrooms feel pain increases.
“It will be a big deal if Kansas loses $22.6 million,” Steel said. “That is a huge, huge deal.”
Until that point, he said, it’s a matter of wait and see.
“We’re not trying to make enemies. We’re not trying to use kids as political pawns,” Steel said. “We’re just trying to do what is best for students, and we will respond as requested, and we will fulfill all the laws.”
Support from Kansas’ state and federal lawmakers has followed in kind.
U.S. Rep. Derek Schmidt, a Republican, asked the federal department to reinstate the funds in an April 5 social media post. KSDE “was successfully using COVID-19 funding to help our kids catch up from pandemic lockdowns and school closings,” unlike other states, he said in the post.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, sent a letter to McMahon on April 9, asking the department to reinstate Kansas’ funds because of how important they have been in restoring learning loss, training educators and lowering child care start-up costs.
“This funding is critical for our schools to continue setting Kansas children up for a strong start to life,” Kelly said.
Kansas is taking a different, more moderate approach than other states in trying to reclaim the funds. Some are refusing to comply with the federal department’s demands. More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia sued the department and McMahon, calling her decision to rescind the funds “arbitrary and capricious.”
In Arizona, a Navajo Nation school district ended reading and math tutoring services and halted repairs to aging infrastructure funded through the stabilization funds, the lawsuit said. In Nevada, 14 employees were laid off. In Michigan, a school district’s HVAC project will have to be abandoned if funds aren’t released. In Maryland, Baltimore City Public Schools canceled tutoring and after-school programs.
In Kansas, almost $7.6 million of the frozen funds have been going toward statewide literacy and math training for educators. About $6.6 million was being used to help schools improve monitoring of student performance. Around $3.6 million was designated for schools to effectively use high-quality instructional materials in classrooms.
About $480,000 was being used to expose students to the full range of career and education options after high school. Spurred by a decline in measures of success after graduation, one project helps students and families explore opportunities outside of a four-year college path.
“A consequence of the learning loss created by the pandemic has been a decrease in the number of students, particularly males, pursuing postsecondary education,” KSDE’s letter said. “It is imperative to address this decline in postsecondary pursuits to ensure students have a path forward to earning a livable wage and Kansas can fulfill its workforce demand.”
The state’s letter to McMahon similarly justified each project’s funding.
Roughly $230,000 of the frozen funds were for principal and superintendent leadership development across the state. Nearly $2.3 million has been used to support child care and early childhood education. And almost $670,000 was being used for administrative and oversight costs within the state department.
KSDE secured in 2024 a late liquidation period for the education stabilization funds, which would have allowed the state’s contractors until March 28, 2026, to spend the money. Every dollar necessary to carry out the state’s plan was designated to a project or contractor before Sept. 30.
The deadline extension, which the federal department approved Sept. 10, has allowed the state to continue paying contractors to carry out the eight projects the funds have supported.
Kansas House Democrats in a Thursday press conference, slammed the Trump administration and the state’s Republican majority for shortchanging public education funding.
Rep. Nikki McDonald, an Olathe Democrat, said the federal funding was a lifeline for students, helping them regain lost ground.
“Yet another promise to our children has been broken,” she said. It’s just the latest instance of dishonoring commitments made to our children.”
Expressing concern for gaps in literacy rates and dwindling workforce readiness, Rep. Valdenia Winn, a Kansas City Democrat, said investing in education is urgent, particularly to address socioeconomic disparities. The number of students reading below a basic level has steadily increased since before the pandemic and has yet to course correct.
“This issue does not discriminate,” Winn said.
The federal education funding freeze has caused uncertainty and concern for the students’ futures. State Democrats expressed particular concern toward Republican efforts to strip funding from state literacy initiatives and a push to elect state supreme court justices. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers to push their agenda.
McDonald later told Kansas Reflector: “Sometimes I think maybe chaos is the point.”