The Michigan Department of Education said that $41,974,900 in pre-approved projects for 27 school districts across the state have been pulled.
LANSING, Mich. — Nearly $42 million in pre-approved projects for over two dozen school districts in Michigan has been pulled by the United States Department of Education (DOE), according to State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice and State Board of Education President Dr. Pamela Pugh.
The two state education officials issued a statement following what the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) said was a letter by the DOE to state chiefs of education across the country. The Education Stabilization Fund allocates funds to schools across the country via grants coming out of the CARES Act, CRRSA Act and ARP Act.
The letter sent on March 28, 2025, explained that the deadline to be reimbursed by the federal government was moved to March 28, 2025, at 5 p.m. The MDE's response to the letter claimed that the initial deadline was March 28, 2026, a full year after the new deadline.
"After careful review, the Department is modifying the liquidation period to end on March 28, 2025. The Department has concluded that the further extension of the liquidation period for the aforementioned grants, already well past the period of performance, was not justified," the letter read.
The letter said that grant recipients had 120 days for "liquidating all financial obligations incurred” and that all previously approved extensions have now been reconsidered.
"By failing to meet the clear deadline in the regulation, you ran the risk that the Department would deny your extension request," it read. "Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."
Superintendent Rice claimed that the funding to Michigan school districts was for pre-approved projects and the requests for late reimbursement were also approved.
The DOE said that the Department will still consider requests for extension on individual projects, but the request must explain "how a particular project’s extension is necessary to mitigate the effects of COVID on American students’ education, and why the Department should exercise its discretion to grant your request."
Superintendent Rice is shared the following statement:
“Walking back a federal commitment to pandemic relief funds to improve the air quality, healthfulness, and safety of schools coming out of the pandemic is unacceptable. Michigan’s children stand to lose more than $40 million. Twenty-seven districts across the state have preapproved financial obligations that met criteria set by the U.S. Department of Education for extending the districts’ deadlines to request reimbursement of these funds. Instead, Secretary McMahon and the Trump Administration abruptly withdrew approval. These funds were approved to be spent on projects including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, boilers, and windows. The 27 districts entered contracts with the understanding that their preapproved projects would be reimbursed by the federal government. A change in administrations should not void previous commitments. Without the promised March 2026 date for federal reimbursement requests, districts may be forced to reduce instructional expenditures for students, diminish savings, or both to honor these contracts.
The U.S. Secretary of Education needs to rethink her March 28 communication. U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Michigan’s other members of Congress must insist that federal commitments to schools and districts that they represent be honored.”
Dr. Pugh added the following:
“As a public health professional for many years, it is a particular affront to me that the U.S. Department of Education would walk back its commitment to projects that protect the health and safety of our students—including for schools in communities such as Flint, Pontiac, and Benton Harbor that were hit especially hard by COVID-19. These federally funded projects are important to students and staff in our districts in Michigan and across the country. To cancel funding approval on no notice and to tell districts that they may apply for a second approval from the U.S. Department of Education to access these funds, with different criteria, has nothing to do with service to schoolchildren.”
Responding to 13 ON YOUR SIDE as to whether the letter was authentic and if the DOE had any further comment, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications for the DOE, Madi Biedermann, had the following statement:
“COVID is over. States and school districts can no longer claim they are spending their emergency pandemic funds on ‘COVID relief’ when there are numerous documented examples of misuse. The Biden Administration established an irresponsible precedent by extending the deadline for spending the COVID money far beyond the intended purpose of the funds, and it is past time for the money to be returned to the people’s bank account. The Department will consider extensions on an individual project-specific basis where it can be demonstrated that funds are being used to directly mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on student learning.”
According to MDE, the districts affected by the DOE's action had included:
- Adrian Public Schools $7,281.00
- Battle Creek Public Schools $3,389,571.43
- Benton Harbor Area Schools $4,579,396.00
- Bridgeport-Spaulding Schools $543,527.85
- Brighton Area Schools $1,190,714.15
- Carman-Ainsworth Comm. Schools $234,818.00
- Chandler Park Academy $1,017,396.45
- Flint City School District $15,603,029.05
- Grandville Public Schools $24,545.11
- Greenville Public Schools $24,022.00
- Hamtramck School District $7,248,920.00
- Insight School of Michigan $33,363.00
- Lincoln Park School District $1,394,178.42
- Marquette Area Public Schools $9,912.14
- Marysville Public Schools $367,159.00
- Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy $79,928.00
- Northville Public Schools $62,650.00
- Pontiac School District $3,294,052.23
- Port Huron Area Schools $497,205.00
- Reed City Area Schools $58,469.00
- Royal Oak Schools $44,398.00
- Van Buren Public Schools $90,000.00
- Wayland Union Schools $66,135.00
- West Bloomfield School District $734,015.00
- Whiteford Agricultural School District $98,143.00
- Woodhaven-Brownstown Schools $1,253,299.63
However, the MDE issued a clarification Tuesday afternoon, saying they had paid some of the roughly $40 million to districts already.
"Out of the total of more than $40 million, MDE has paid approximately $24.2 million to the districts based on spending that the districts have reported," the clarification read. "Several districts fit into this category, including Flint, which requested $15.6 million and has received $14.2 million."
"Another group of districts has not yet sought payment," it continued. "Without a reversal from the U.S. Department of Education, the districts may not be paid the remaining approximately $17.8 million for which they haven’t already been paid. In addition, MDE would stand to lose $5 million in administrative costs."
Other than Flint, the MDE's clarification did not immediately make clear which other districts had received at least partial payment.
"It's really left local schools in a bind as far as what to do," Michigan Education Association Spokesperson Thomas Morgan told 13 ON YOUR SIDE Tuesday prior to MDE's clarification. "Some have already committed some of the funds, and will need to figure out what other programs to cut, including educational programs to make up that funding. Others have contracts in place."
