D.C. chaos finally hits Vermont, TRSU schools

 

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

School budgets in Vermont begin on July 1 and end the following June 30.  Budgets for the 2025-26 year were hammered out in the fall of 2024 and approved by voters beginning on Town Meeting Day in March. Grants and aid from various sources were firmed up and expected expenditures were lined up in readiness for the new fiscal year starting on July 1.

So it came as a shock when Vermont’s Agency of Education received an email at 5:16 p.m. on Monday, June 30 from “noreply@ed.gov” saying that the U.S. Education Department was conducting a review of several grant programs, money that was supposed to be available the following day, Tuesday, July 1. That money  would not be available while the review was going on.

The DOE email said the department wanted to ensure that the money was being spent “…in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities.”

For Vermont, that amounted to $26 million in funds that Congress had already approved and were included in the budgets of Vermont schools, according to the AOE.

At just 83 words long, the federal government email was also short on details. Specifically, it lacked  the time the review would take and a date when a decision would be announced. For schools that will be scrambling to see it they will have the funding to start or continue programs, that date is crucial.

The programs affected include afterschool and summer programs, instruction services and support to migrant children, professional development in subjects like “the science of reading,” instructional coaching and mentoring for teachers, mental health services and adult literacy programs. As you might expect, the uncertainty has sent a shock through the administrations of Vermont’s schools.

The AOE says it is conducting outreach and providing support to supervisory unions and school district to mitigate the impact of the federal action.

Deborah Bloom, the assistant division director for the Federal Education Support Program at the AOE, told The Telegraph on Tuesday that in the first week after the announcement, the Consolidated Federal Programs team quickly increased office hours in which business managers, grant managers and others can drop in to ask questions and get support. Bloom said anywhere from half a dozen to 50 can be seeking help at the same time.

While the AOE generally pauses office hours during the summer, this summer it will continue to be staffed. “We continue to partner with people in the field and that connection is strong,” said Bloom.

She also said there have been a lot of technical assistance calls in which AOE staff help people in the field to prioritize programs and find any monies that can help them. As an example, Bloom pointed to “carry over” funds from last year that might be able to cover shortfalls due to the federal Department of Education’s action.

The Two Rivers Supervisory Union, its two districts — Green Mountain Unified and Ludlow Mount Holly Unified Union — and four elementary schools and one high school — had been anticipating some federal cuts and freezes, as The Telegraph outlined in February.

Cheryl Hammond, TRSU business manager, said the two districts do not use all of the services that have been put on hold, but some programs could face problems, including instructional coaching and mentoring to help teachers to raise literacy and math performance, and as mental health programs, which all told cost the SU more than $200,000. The GM board set aside a little over $170,000 against the possibility that cuts could happen under the Trump administration, but Ludlow Mount Holly could not put funds aside.

On the other hand, Hammond said,  the Afterschool Program has a surplus and with belt tightening and extra care in spending it may make it through the year.

Saying that the situation is difficult to navigate, Hammond said that they are still working out contingencies.

Bloom noted that while some of the paused programs affect just a handful of districts, all or nearly all of Vermont’s SUs depend on grants that support mental health services and instruction as well as professional development to increase student performance.