Maura Healey: Trump administration won’t release $108 million meant for Mass. schools

The Healey administration is condemning the Trump administration s decision to withhold billions in congressionally approved funding for the nation s schools about million of which was due to be in the Bay State s coffers on July The governor s office says the hold on billion in guidance funding appropriated by Congress for the several states is unprecedented and that the absence of the Commonwealth s cut of this funding will be felt by students and school districts statewide Every day that goes by without this training funding hurts children educators communities and our market Gov Maura Healey revealed in a comment shared first with the Herald Without this funding districts are going to be forced to lay off staff delay or cancel programs and services and disrupt learning Our schools were promised this funding and the Trump Administration necessities to deliver it Attorney General Andrea Campbell notified the Herald on Thursday that she will take legal action if the Department of Teaching does not swiftly reverse their decision The Trump Administration s decision to withhold billions of dollars in funding is further proof that it does not care about our children families or schools If the Trump Administration does not act promptly to fulfill their legal obligations to our schools we will see them in court Campbell announced The federal Office of Management and Budget stated in a declaration on Wednesday that the funds are being held for review to ensure they are in compliance with the Trump Administration s policies against using federal dollars to patronage LGBTQ initiatives or for the training of undocumented migrant students Various of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda the Office of Management and Budget mentioned According to the governors office the funding is used for a wide variety of school functions including summer and after school programs behavioral and mental wellbeing help bullying prevention and intervention reducing chronic absenteeism buying materials and supplies for classrooms and more Training Secretary Patrick Tutwiler announced the actions of the federal regime are creating chaos that is hurting Bay State students It s also he stated outside the power of the presidency Donald Trump does not get to unilaterally decide which students and schools are deserving of federal assistance Congress appropriated these funds and they need to be issued to states he mentioned This is a progressing story Herald wire services were used