After President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would cut final reimbursements of previously approved COVID funding, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor said Tuesday night the impact on the district may be limited, although the full impact is still being determined.
“Unless Maryland isn’t telling us something, which I have to leave the door open for that … we actually think our exposure [to impacts] is relatively small,” Taylor said at a Tuesday night county budget forum at Rockville High School hosted by County Council Vice President Will Jawando (D-At-large). “It doesn’t mean that we don’t have exposure.”
Maryland schools superintendent Carey Wright said at a press conference on Monday that the state is facing a “catastrophic” $418 million loss in pandemic-era relief funds after U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter Friday announcing the Department of Education wouldn’t honor a previously approved extension for COVID-related funding.
The Washington Post reported Monday that pandemic relief funding, offered to states to assist schools in pivoting to virtual learning, modernize buildings and aid academic recovery, was supposed to be used by the states by September. In January, then-President Joe Biden’s administration granted some school systems an extension for spending the funds. Maryland Matters reported that Wright said the state sought extensions because of supply chain issues and construction delays.
According to Maryland Matters, McMahon said in the letter announcing the cancellation of the funds effective 5 p.m. Friday, that extending deadlines to allocate COVID-related grants “years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.”
According to The Washington Post, Maryland received $3.2 billion in pandemic relief, the majority of which has been spent. Wright said the state still had more than $400 million that has been spent or committed with the expectation of reimbursement.
State officials have said about $305.2 million has been spent by the state but not reimbursed by the federal government. The rest, $112.8 million, is “encumbered” funds not paid out by the state as of February, according to Maryland Matters.
On Monday, Wright said MCPS would be one of the school districts most impacted. However, so far, Taylor said it looks like the impact to the school district may be minimal.
On Tuesday, Taylor said there’s less than $1.2 million in COVID-related funding the district has identified as outstanding. That funding is grant money that has already been spent, Taylor said, and needs to be reimbursed.
“We just didn’t have a lot of outstanding [funds],” Taylor said. “So that is both good and bad, by the way, that we have spent all of our COVID money, and we’ve gotten reimbursed. But that also means that we don’t have any and that we definitely have expended those resources.”
Taylor said with the federal administration, it was difficult to understand what would be impacting school districts.
“It’s hard to tell with this federal administration what’s hyperbole and what’s fact because a lot of times we’ve also received notifications that say one thing and then [it’s determined] no, no, no, that’s actually not how law works,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to kind of suss through that, but we think that at this time, our exposure is relatively limited.”
However, the full impact, and what it means for MCPS remains unclear. According to Maryland Matters, state officials said it’s not clear if the state would need to pay for ongoing programs or if local school systems would need to return money already spent.
According to Maryland Matters, state education officials said they’re discussing the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the federal education department.
