In Hillsborough County, Fla., WFLA reports that the U.S. Department of Education announced it will soon distribute the billions of dollars in grant funding it had previously held back for evaluation.

Initially, on June 30, the department informed school districts via a statement that they would withhold the $6.8 billion in grant funding. This decision was part of a “review of the FY 2025 funding for the [Title I-C, II-A, III-A, IV-A, IV-B] grant program(s).”

According to educational administrators, these grant funds support a variety of initiatives including after-school activities, teacher professional development, mental health services, and more.

Last week, the department said it would release $1.3 billion in after-school and summer programing.

School boards across the state of Florida were notified of the remaining funding to be released by an email sent from the Florida School Boards Assocation obtained by News Channel 8:

Board Members:

The U.S. Department of Education has announced that the administration has completed its review of the remaining federally funded programs and will begin sending the funding to the states next week. The funding to be released includes:

• Title I-Part C (migrant education state grants)
• Title II-Part A (supporting effective instruction state grants)
• Title III-Part A (English language acquisition grants)
• Title IV-Part A (student support and academic enrichment grants)

The Title IV-Part B (21st century community learning centers/out-of-school time grants) was released to the states on July 18.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to their members of Congress. We heard back from several of you that members from all parties had requested that these funds, which they had already approved, be released. 

We hope you find this information helpful.

Florida School Boards Association

“We will continue with the work that we had planned, continuing to elevate excellence in these various areas that these funds affect,” said Laura Hine, Pinellas County School Board Chair.

$9 million in grant funding was withheld from the Pinellas County School District, impacting mental health, professional development, programming for middle school students and more.

“Our schools went from 80% A’s and B’s to 90% A’s and B’s and we know that professional development of our teachers is one of the reasons,” Hine said. “We tend to lose kids in middle school. Adolescence is a powerful time. But with our investment in that work, we now have 90% of our middle schools are our A or B school.”

Hine said she is grateful to the school community, along with other agencies such as the Juvenile Welfare Board and the Education Foundation, for reaching out and providing assistance in potential gaps that would have been left empty without the grant funding.

On Thursday night, Pinellas County school leaders held a town hall to address the freeze of funding with the community.

“We had more than 300 people attend in person. We know more than 3,600 people viewed online. The interest in our schools is strong,” Hine said. “To see the community from all corners turn out in support of their schools, including the elected officials in this in this area, and bipartisan support of funding our schools has really been extraordinary and good.”

Pinellas County school board leaders also said last week they would be writing letters to the U.S. Department of Education and state department of education, as well as congressional representatives and local delegations.

“I have heard from all three, Senator Hooper, Senator Rouson, and Senator DiCeglie — again, bipartisan support throughout Pinellas County, as well as both Representative Luna and Representative Castor, [who] all wrote letters and spoke out in support of releasing these funds and we very much appreciate their support,” Hine said.

Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Fred Heid also responded to the news of the release of funding with a statement after announcing last week more than $20 million in the grant funding for the district was at risk.

“We are very pleased to hear that this federal funding is being released. This funding provides necessary support for students throughout our district. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue our life-changing work made possible by this federal funding.”

Fred Heid, Superintendent, Polk County Public Schools

Some school districts are awaiting official notice for the release of funding as Hillsborough County Public Schools relayed to News Channel 8 in a statement:

We will wait for the official confirmation on the status of the federal education grant funds.

Debra Bellanti, Media and Public Relations Director, Hillsborough County Public Schools 

Bellanti shared funding amounts the school district is expected to receive for the respective title grants, which in total amount to more than $24 million.

Pasco County Council PTA of Florida PTA (Parent Teachers’ Association) President Erin Kelley said Pasco County Schools is expecting $6.3 million and added that she too is awaiting the official notification.

“Will the government release the whole amount that we’re expecting? We don’t know. Are there going to be any additional requirements that they put on our school boards or our states in order to release the funds? We can’t be sure until the funds are actually here,” Kelley said.

Parents who spoke with News Channel 8 Friday night voiced their concerns about transparency and called the actions from the federal department an overreach.

“What was concerning me is, you know, I’ve got a daughter who enters the public school system in two weeks, and she’s just beginning her public education,” said Whitney Fox, a Pinellas County mother of two. “I’m worried, what if this happens again? What if the funds aren’t unfrozen? I think that this isn’t the first that we’re going to see an attack on the public education system.”

This is a developing story, stick with News Channel 8 for updates.