As President Donald Trump’s administration cuts $106 million in K-12 education grant funding for Massachusetts, Fitchburg city officials said Tuesday that funding for school infrastructure improvement projects is at risk of being on the chopping block.
The third-largest city in Worcester County stands to lose more than $6.5 million in federal funds under these cuts, according to Fitchburg Superintendent Jonathan Thompson.
The funds, which had prior federal approval, were to be used towards heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) upgrades and indoor air quality improvements (IVAQ) at Memorial Middle School and South Street Early Childhood Learning Center, Thompson said in an email to MassLive.
The projects were initiated in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic to improve ventilation and air quality for students.
“The City and Fitchburg Public Schools have spent over three years advancing these improvements—conducting studies, developing designs, navigating supply chain delays, rebidding projects due to a lack of available contractors, and finally awarding the bids," Thompson said in the email. “The unit ventilators have already been ordered and installation is scheduled to take place during the upcoming summer break, as the work requires full building access.”
Gov. Maura Healey’s office announced Tuesday that the Trump administration terminated grant funding in Massachusetts on Friday.
‘The purpose of these funds was to support statewide efforts that addressed losses in learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," Healey’s office said.
The funds were also used to support building upgrades in school districts to improve air quality through HVAC installations—such as in Fitchburg.
“At a time when students are still struggling to recover from the pandemic, we need to be doing everything we can to address learning loss and the youth mental health crisis.” Healey’s office said. ”Instead, President Trump suddenly ripped away more than $100 million in funding that is supposed to go right to Massachusetts students and schools.”
Fitchburg saw the third-most money lost in grant funding under these cuts, according to Healey’s office.
The cities that saw the largest cuts were Springfield and New Bedford, losing $47,357,654 and $15,603,433 respectively.
In a press release, Healey’s office said the U.S. Department of Education notified all states at 5:03 p.m. on Friday about its decision to end the federal Education Stabilization Fund liquidation period at 5:00 p.m. that night.
The liquidation period is a time when grants from the fund have to be spent by states.
The U.S. Department of Education, however, stood by its decision to claw back the funds.
“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,” Madi Biedermann, the U.S. Department of Education’s deputy assistant secretary for communications, said. “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.”
Fitchburg Mayor Samantha “Sam” Squailia said the decision to claw back the funds is a “damaging decision” from the federal government.
“Six point five seven million is potentially at risk,” Squailia told MassLive. “The federal government has threatened to take that away.”
Because these grants are only for upgrades to school infrastructure, Squailia told MassLive that the cuts are not directed to educators’ salaries at Fitchburg Public Schools.
Worcester and Leominster, the first and second largest cities in Central Mass., also saw grant funding cuts. Worcester saw a total of $1,454,350 lost in funding, while Leominster lost $1,868,215 in funding.
Officials from Worcester Public Schools are currently receiving information about the impact of these grand funding cuts.
“We’re still receiving information on what this means for Worcester,” Dan O’Brien, the chief communications officer for Worcester Public Schools, said “We did spend most of our ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) money already for the year.”
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