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The withholding of more than $6 billion in federal education funding and its potential effects are something school leaders are grappling with on a national, state and local level.
The withheld funds include an estimated $240 million that was expected to go out to Illinois K-12 schools on July 1.
On June 30, the Trump administration announced a funding freeze encompassing numerous Title programs. The funds had been approved by Congress earlier this year.
They included $2.2 billion in funds that support teacher training (Title II), $1.4 billion for before- and after-school programs (Title IV), $1.3 billion in funding for academic enrichment programs (Title IV), $890 million meant to help English learners develop their language skills (Title III), and $375 million to provide academic support to the children of migrant farmworkers (Title I), according to Chalkbeat.org.
Some K-12 leaders in Kankakee County shared their reactions.
Bradley Elementary District 61 Superintendent Chris Hammond said he has a “hard time believing” the funding freeze would continue to stand without being challenged in court.
“We’re hopeful that it will not impact us tremendously, but understanding that if it does, we’re going to have to take a look at the programs that we offer,” Hammond said. “The idea is to not let it impact kids, ever. Sometimes adults make choices that do, so we have to try to mitigate that.”
He noted it seems as though the students who are in the most need stand to be most affected.
“Not that those that aren’t of need should be impacted, but it stings a little bit more when it’s kids that are needing these funds so that we can educate them properly and appropriately,” Hammond said.
He also said the district would likely have to make budgetary adjustments because of changes to Medicaid.
Cuts to the federal and state health insurance program, which provides coverage to low-income citizens, were included in the “big, beautiful bill” President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday.
“It kind of feels like it ends up being an unfunded mandate, to an extent,” Hammond said.
Herscher CUSD 2 Superintendent Rich Decman said the district relies more on state and local funds than federal grants.
In a given year, about 80% of the district’s budget comes from local tax funds, 15% comes from the state and 5% comes from the federal government.
“When you’re talking a $25 million to $26 million budget, 5% of that is still pretty significant,” he said.
While Herscher receives funding for Title I, Title II and other federal programs, it doesn’t receive nearly as much as some of their neighboring districts.
But, any type of funding loss is still “detrimental” for their schools, he said.
“Somebody, somewhere is going to have to make up for it,” Decman said.
St. Anne Unit District 24 Superintendent Charles Stegall said their district now is starting to look at its fiscal year 2026 budget.
“Certainly, it does alarm us to see any dollars potentially frozen,” Stegall said. “Our hope is that those monies do get released.”
Stegall said he is paying close attention to the work of advocacy groups that are pushing for school funding in Springfield as well as Washington, D.C.
“Right now, we’re going to continue to operate business as usual but be mindful of what could happen if those dollars don’t ultimately flow,” Stegall said.
Stegall also noted the timing of the freeze about a month before the school year starts puts school districts in a difficult predicament.
Schools should have been made aware of the funding situation four or five months ago, he said.
“The timing is not good for any district to be able to prepare for something like this,” Stegall said. “... Hopefully, our lawmakers will continue to push to make the right decisions.”
That sentiment regarding timeliness was also expressed in a statement by State Superintendent Tony Sanders, who called the delay in funding allocations “deeply disruptive, irresponsible, and damaging to Illinois’ 1.9 million public school students.”
“Our schools rely on timely and predictable funding information to plan effectively for the upcoming school year, so they can make decisions about staffing, programs and supports that directly impact student learning,” Sanders said in the statement. “This inaction forces local districts to deal with unnecessary uncertainty and places an undue burden on teachers, administrators and families alike at the exact moment when they should be focused on preparing for the next school year.”