The Trump administration has cut more than $1 million in federal funds from Charlottesville and Albemarle County public schools.
The money supported programs for immigrants students, teacher development and English language learners.
Albemarle County Schools Superintendent Matt Haas announced Monday that the county school division expects to lose roughly $660,000. The next day, his counterpart in the city, Charlottesville Superintendent Royal Gurley, announced the city school division could lose about $417,000.
The $1,077,000 was all federal title grant money, funds allocated to school divisions to help their low-income students meet state academic standards.
“The Virginia Department of Education recently informed school divisions that the federal government is withholding funding for many of these programs, which help pay for services such as support for migrant students, English Learners, and teacher professional development,” according to Haas’ announcement. “It is unclear whether this pause in funding will be temporary or extend through the full school year.”
Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County are two of many school divisions across the commonwealth and country facing cuts after President Donald Trump decided late last month to impound $6.2 billion expected to be released on July 1 to finance title grant programs for the upcoming academic year. Congress had already approved the funds back in March.
Virginia schools alone are set to lose a total of $108 million, according to a joint statement from Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
“The Trump Administration’s decision to withhold over $6 billion in funding that Congress appropriated for schools across the country, while pushing for a disastrous megabill that slashes programs Virginians rely on to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy, tells you everything you need to know about their priorities,” the pair wrote on July 2. “This move will devastate our students, especially those in our rural communities.”
Haas equated the estimated loss of $660,000 to six full-time school division jobs. The Daily Progress reached out to the division’s chief operating officer, Rosalyn Schmitt, to determine if six employees will, in fact, be laid off due to the funding cuts, but Schmitt did not immediately respond.
Gurley did not allude to any layoffs in his brief announcement Tuesday. He did mention that the city has “carryover funds that will enable us to soften the blow,” but that is only a temporary fix.
“Should these cuts become permanent, we will feel the impacts in areas including services for English language learners, professional development for staff, and some staff stipends and contract services,” Gurley said.
Title grants are a broad category of grants established in 1965 under President Lyndon Johnson. The largest funding pool in that category is Title I, Part A, which is for a school’s entire student body and not just a certain demographic.
Trump’s impoundment has left Title I, Part A grants untouched, but other tiers weren’t as fortunate.
According to Haas’ statement, the state Department of Education has notified school divisions that the funding for multiple title grant programs “is currently being withheld by the federal government,” including:
Title I, Part C for the education of migratory children.Title II, Part A for preparing, training and recruiting high-quality teachers and principals.Title III for language instruction for English learners and immigrant students.Title IV, Part A for student support and academic enrichment grants.
On Friday, more than two weeks after deciding to withhold the title grant funding, the Trump administration said it would release the $1.3 billion directed for Title IV, Part B this past Monday. That particular grant program is for “eligible organizations that implement community learning centers aimed at enhancing educational opportunities outside of the regular school day,” or after-school programs, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
The release of those funds was announced in a letter signed by Patrick Rooney and La’Shawndra Scroggins, both with the agency’s School Support and Accountability Office. The letter stresses that recipients of Title IV, Part B grants will be subject to federal reviews to ensure the money is being used in compliance with various anti-discrimination laws.
“To the extent that a grantee uses grant funds for such unallowable activities, the Department intends to take appropriate enforcement action including under section 451 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), which may include the recovery of funds,” wrote Rooney and Scroggins.
Announcing the news at a meeting of the Albemarle County School Board on July 10, Schmitt said Trump’s decision to withhold the money did not come as a surprise to the county school administration.
“It’s our goal to maintain these programs and fill positions. We knew that this was a possibility, and so we’re enacting our contingency plans,” she said. “We hold back some staffing that we typically release for other needs; we’ll be using that.”
What those contingency plans entail is unclear, as Schmitt did not respond to a Daily Progress inquiry. However, at the School Board meeting, she did mention that the division is “taking advantage of some vacancies” in its Central Office “that we will not fill.”
The Daily Progress reached out to multiple members of the Albemarle County School Board via phone and email with no response.
Last month, the county School Board voted to increase members’ salaries by 105%, from $7,915 to $16,249 a year. The seven-member body also approved a 3% pay raise for Haas, who now makes $247,870 a year, and to extend his contract through June 20, 2028, two years ahead of when the current contract was set to expire.
Already, an interstate coalition of school divisions, teachers’ unions and nonprofit groups have joined together to take legal action against Trump’s impoundment. On Monday, 12 plaintiffs filed suit against the White House for “unlawfully withholding nearly $6 billion in education funding that Congress directed to support students for the 2025–2026 school year.”
They are represented by two Washington-based organizations: Democracy Forward, a national legal services and research foundation, and the Jacobson Lawyers Group, a firm composed of former senior government attorneys that was founded by Dan Jacobson, former general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget.
“The Trump-Vance administration’s ongoing assault on public education in our country is harming students, educators, and communities. This is not making anyone’s lives easier,” said President and CEO of Democracy Forward Skye Perryman in a statement announcing the suit on Monday. “The Department of Education is holding hostage billions of dollars from American communities. This is an unconstitutional and unlawful power grab that puts extreme agendas over the well-being of students and denies communities the educational resources that Congress intended them to have.”
The plaintiffs plan to file a preliminary injunction motion in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island later this week that, if granted, could grant immediate relief.
“It is my hope that the federal government will quickly restore this much-needed funding,” Gurley said Tuesday. "In the meantime, I encourage you to contact your federal elected officials to let them know how Charlottesville will be impacted.”
The Charlottesville area is represented by Warner, Kaine and U.S. Rep. John McGuire, a Republican representing Virginia’s 5th District.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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