President Donald Trump’s administration announced Friday it would release roughly $40 million in education funding it initially withheld from Utah schools, officially ending a nationwide funding freeze that had affected major federal education grants.
The U.S. Department of Education informed the Utah State Board of Education and other states of the lift Friday morning, saying that, in addition to a grant for afterschool and summer programs it released last week, the remaining five frozen grants would begin going out Monday.
The $6.8 billion nationwide funding freeze came just a day before the grants were set to be released on July 1, ahead of the 2025-26 school year. In a June 30 email, federal officials told state education agencies they were “reviewing” the expected grants to “ensure taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities.”
Before the pause, the grants had already been approved by Congress and signed by Trump earlier this year as part of a continuing resolution that is supposed to provide federal funding through Sept. 30, when federal fiscal 2025 ends.
Utah’s freeze totaled approximately $40 million in federal grant funding, according to this USBE breakdown:
Many districts had some grant money left over from last year’s allocations, which they began working to stretch under the freeze, USBE said.
The Department of Education said Friday it “intends to conduct reviews of grantees’ use of funds to ensure ongoing compliance with the above provisions and all other applicable laws and regulations.”