The Vermont Agency of Education announced Thursday it was implementing a temporary hiring freeze, citing difficulties created by the Trump administration’s recent federal funding pause.
The agency is implementing the freeze “to protect federally funded roles at the agency,” spokesperson Toren Ballard said in a statement.
“While the agency is aware of other state education agencies that may be preparing to lay off federally funded staff, the agency is thankfully not in this position,” Ballard wrote.
The U.S. Department of Education on June 30 informed state education officials they would be conducting a review of several federal grant programs but provided no timeline for when that review would be completed. Roughly $26 million has since been withheld from Vermont.
Ballard said the agency uses a portion of those federal funds to administer federal programs, and the Trump administration’s freeze “impacts the agency’s budget in addition to denying opportunities to Vermont students.”
The freeze is not expected to affect new roles created by Act 73, the state’s new sweeping education reform bill signed into law earlier this month, Ballard said.
Ballard wrote that Education Secretary Zoie Saunders “is proud of the professionals at the agency who have been ahead of other states in responding to these challenges and supporting the field.”
“The Secretary remains confident in the agency’s continued leadership in delivering quality services and navigating the uncertainty with professionalism,” he wrote.
The pause in federal funding has left school districts and adult learning centers in limbo. Six federal grant programs were affected by the freeze, including Title IIA and Title IIIA grants, which respectively fund professional development for teachers and staff, and support services for English language learners.
In Vermont, the grants for years have helped fund nearly 100 after-school and summer programs, serving more than 10,000 students as well as an array of English language programs.
The Trump administration announced the funding cuts on the evening of June 30, Agency of Education officials said previously, less than 24 hours before the new state fiscal year was set to begin July 1.
On Monday, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark joined a 24-state lawsuit against the Trump administration accusing them of illegally halting funds for six federal education funding programs previously approved by Congress.
Clark in a news release said the Trump administration “does not have the power to freeze these funds — funds that Vermont schools are counting on.”
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