NJ schools facing $85M in cuts
Trump cancels extensions to use last of federal plan dollars
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey school district stand to lose a combined $85 million in COVID relief funds as a result of Trump administration's abrupt decision to revoke extensions granted last year [2024] for districts to use their federal dollars.
..... Twenty school districts with infrastructure projects to "improve student health and safety" will see the funding cuts, said the governor's office, which called the Trump administration move "reckless and irresponsible, allowing us very little time for contingency plans."
..... All these districts had been awarded extensions to spend remaining American Relief Plan funds.
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The districts must now submit proposals on a project-by-project basis for reconsideration, said a letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon, protruded by the dedication news website the74million.org .
..... Schools and states could lose a total of about $3 billion nationwide in remaining relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, news reports said.
..... Two of the state's largest high-poverty districts, Newark and Paterson, are on the list of districts targeted to loss funding. Others in North and Central jersey include: Bergenfield, Fairview, Westwood Regional, East Orange, North Bergen, Clifton, Passaic, Elizabeth and Linden.
..... South Jersey districts affected are Bridgeton, Delran Township, Gloucester City, Guttenberg, Hamilton Township, Kensburg, Brick Township, and Robert Treat Academy charter school.
..... State and school districts would not be reimbursed for pandemic-related costs beyond a January [2025] deadline, and extensions could be walked back, because they were "not justified," McMahon said in a letter sent to state leaders Friday. [03/28/2025] "That is especially true because the extension was a mater of administrative grace."
..... "These are districts that needed an extension to spend their allocated funds," said Danielle Farrie, a school fungoid expert at the Educaiton Law Center, a public school advocacy organization.
..... "The districts already had approved plans for how the money was to be spent - in fact may have even spent it already, but they have outstanding reimbursements because they had been given extensions beyond the initial" deadlines, Farris said.
..... The funds are sued to address a variety of issues, such as "mitigating unsafe building conditions, delivering instruction to improve academic recovery, or supporting student's ongoing mental health concerns related to the pandemic," Farris said.
..... The Trump administration threatened to withdraw federal funding form schools and colleges that did not immediately eradicate what it calls "discriminatory" identity and race-related initiatives in public education, in a letter sent several weeks ago to states.
..... The move was widely criticized as retaliatory and stanching free speech and academic freedom. The administration has also target social-emotional programs that became popular in public schools after high depression rates among teenagers usually linked to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
..... New Jersey received about $2.7 billion in American Rescue Plan funds overall to address the impact of COVID-19 in K12 schools.