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Support for Pittsburgh's immigrant students, adult learners left in limbo amid federal grant freeze

Jillian Forstadt
/
90.5 WESA

A Trump administration funding freeze on some education grants could disrupt services at schools and nonprofits across the Pittsburgh region this school year.

The administration is withholding $230 million in federal grants for Pennsylvania after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, that includes an estimated:

  • $70 million for teacher training, recruitment and retention
  • $55 million for academic enrichment
  • $54 million for after-school programming through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant
  • $20 million to improve students' English language proficiency 
  • $20 million for adult education
  • $11 million for migrant education

The department said in a statement that it is assessing the impact of the delay. The administration is withholding more than $6 billion in education grants nationwide to ensure they align with President Donald Trump's priorities.

Programs that rely on the money were expecting it to be distributed July 1, but a U.S. Department of Education notice issued June 30 announced the money would not be released while the programs are under review. The department did not provide a timeline and warned that "decisions have not yet been made" on grants for the upcoming school year.

If the funding freeze remains, children learning English and their parents would be especially affected. Some districts use the money to pay for summer programming designed for English learners, family engagement specialists who can communicate with parents and professional development training for staff.

At Baldwin-Whitehall School District, leaders were expecting nearly $300,000, including $82,000 for English language learners and immigrant students. One in 10 district students fall into these groups.

Baldwin-Whitehall director of educational programs Andrea Huffman said the district won't be able to launch some of the plans in development to support these students and families without the frozen funds.

"One of our goals this year was really to increase parent engagement and provide opportunities for them to be more connected to the school district, so it really does have a great impact on some of the work that we're trying to do," she said.

Huffman said this funding, while supplemental to local and state education funding, is critical to schools serving students and families who need additional support.

"They do need additional supports beyond what a school district would typically give students, and so that's why that funding is so important," she said. "Because there is that barrier that exists for a lot of our families — yes, we could argue that we have barriers for many of our families, but they're different types of barriers."

Sonya Meadows, senior director of government relations for the Propel charter school network, said the $575,000 in grants it expected are foundational to many of their programs.

"We're talking about mental health services, language support, other supports that scholars need who are underperforming to get them to a level of academic achievement that is suitable for the grade level that they're in," Meadows said.

Meadows said Propel leaders have had to pause some planning for next school year to figure out ways to address the funding gap.

Some advocates fear the grants are being targeted for elimination, which could force schools to cut programs and teachers. Trump's 2026 budget proposal called for Congress to zero out all of the programs under review, signaling the administration sees them as unnecessary.

That includes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers funds, which after-school and summer learning programs for students in underserved and low-performing schools. Grantees in Pennsylvania served more than 32,000 students during the 2022-2023 school year and the preceding summer.

More than half of grantees served students in urban environments and roughly a quarter were located in rural areas, according to a state evaluation. Nearly all offered academic enrichment and STEM activities, as well as literacy support and healthy lifestyle learning.

"These programs are not only helping school support students that otherwise might not receive the support, but they're helping parents get back to work," said Pantea Shademani, co-chair of the state's advisory board for the program. "These programs are helping fight food insecurity."

The Pennsylvania Department of Education told after-school program grantees last month that the agency will continue to fund them for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Anything beyond that, the memo said, is uncertain.

The Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania receives more than $200,000 in federal funding for its after-school programs. President Chris Watts said while that only makes up 2% of his organization's budget, smaller Boys and Girls Clubs around the state could face significant cuts.

According to Watts, eight of the national organization's 62 locations in Pennsylvania would be subject to closure if their federal funding isn't restored. He estimated that would impact 880 youth and could result in a reduction of 50 staff.

"We don't anticipate any drop in programmatic participation or activity or staff reductions [in Pittsburgh], but it will limit our ability here in Western PA to be flexible," Watts said.

The freeze follows a string of federal funding cuts and cancellations education groups have faced since the start of the Trump administration. The Education Department told states and school leaders this spring that it would not disburse the remainder of the federal COVID-19 aid committed by Congress, causing budget turmoil for Pittsburgh Public and other districts across the country.

Cuts to the AmeriCorps volunteer program impacted K-12 programs and adult education as well.

While a court order restored some of those programs through July, Literacy Pittsburgh's funding was not renewed for the following year. The latest freeze has put about a third of the organization's funding on hold, according to director Carey Harris.

Literacy Pittsburgh provides the region's immigrants with adult literacy classes and workforce development services. Harris said it now faces a $2.1 million budget deficit.

"And the biggest expense in our budget is people," Harris said. "The amazing professional adults who have given their lives over to helping others, their jobs are on the line."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Copyright 2025 90.5 WESA

Jillian Forstadt