Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined her colleagues in a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russell Vought, asking him to faithfully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Resolution Act, and release the funds.
The legislation included funding for Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants; 21st Century Learning Centers; Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants; English Language Acquisition; Migrant Education; Adult Basic and Literary Education State Grants (including Integrated English Language and Civics Education State Grants).
“The decision to withhold this funding is directly contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” the Senators wrote. “This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent, because as we know, local communities know how to best serve students and families. Withholding this funding denies states and communities the opportunity to pursue localized initiatives to support students and their families.”
The letter was also signed by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Boozman (R-AR), Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jim Justice (R-WV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and M. Michael Rounds (R-SD).
The full text of the letter can be found here, or below.
Dear Director Vought,
We write to ask you to faithfully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Resolution Act, which President Trump signed into law earlier this year, including the education formula funds that states anticipated receiving on July I, 2025.
The Continuing Resolution contained funding for Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants; 21st Century Community Learning Centers; Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants; English Language Acquisition; Migrant Education; Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants (including Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education State Grants). Withholding these funds will harm students, families, and local economies.
The decision to withhold this funding is contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states. This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent, because as we know, local communities know how to best serve students and families. Withholding this funding denies states and communities the opportunity to pursue localized initiatives to support students and their families.
We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs.
However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds. These funds go to support programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies.
These funds also go to support adult learners. These students are often adults seeking second chances for a myriad of reasons, for example, caregiving responsibilities or financial challenges.
These are adult learners working to gain employment skills, earn workforce certifications, or transition into postsecondary education. We should be making educational opportunities easier for these students, not harder.
We welcome the opportunity to work with you and Secretary McMahon to ensure that all federal education funding goes towards programs that help states and school districts provide students an excellent education. We want to see students in our states and across the country thrive, whether they are adult learners, students who speak English as a second language, or students who need after-school care so that their parents can work. We believe you share the same goal.
