SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
Educators warn of staff cuts and program disruptions as Trump administration halts federal grants for immigrant and low-income students.
More than $68 million in federal education funding for Alabama schools has been frozen after the Trump administration announced a national review of key grant programs. The decision is part of a broader freeze affecting over $6 billion in U.S. Department of Education grants, many of which support immigrant, low-income, and English learner students.
“These are funds that Congress has authorized for the 2025–26 school year to support classrooms across the state,” said Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey in a written statement. “Much of this amount is directly tied to salaries for teachers, teacher aides, and other employees. Some of the funds are tied to affordable after-school programs.”
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a public statement that the freeze is meant to ensure programs “align with President Trump’s policy priorities,” adding, “Many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda.”
Mackey urged federal officials to act quickly:
“We are hopeful that the review period will be expedited, and funds will be released quickly. However, we look forward to working expeditiously with our colleagues in Washington as we are only weeks away from the beginning of a new school year and wish to avoid any disruption in services for our students and their families.”
Richard Franklin, president of the Birmingham chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, was more pointed in his criticism.
“They’re using our kids as political pawns to prove a point politically, when we should all be providing our kids with an education,” Franklin said.
The freeze targets programs such as Title III grants and migrant education funds, which school districts use to train aides, operate summer school, and hire liaisons who speak families’ native languages. The $375 million national migrant education program often pays for teachers who travel to serve children of agricultural workers.
Amaya Garcia, director of education research at New America, cautioned against blanket assumptions about who benefits from the programs.
“By cherrypicking extreme examples, the administration is seeking to conflate all students learning English with people who are in the country illegally,” Garcia said in an interview with ABC News.
She added that most English learners in U.S. public schools are American-born.
Despite the political controversy, Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, guarantees public education for all children regardless of immigration status. School leaders now hope the funds will be reinstated before classrooms reopen in August.
