NEWS: Sanders Successfully Pushes Trump Administration to Release Education Funding for Vermont

BURLINGTON, Vt. April 27 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today announced that the Department of Education has finally released $11.58 million in federal K-12 COVID-19 funding for 20 Vermont school districts and the Agency of Education, after over a year of needless delay. “After a year of needless delay from the Trump administration, Vermont school districts will finally receive federal funding for summer and afterschool programs, school renovations and other critical services. At a time when so many of our school districts are suffering and struggling economically, this is an important step forward,” Sanders said. In March 2025, the Trump administration canceled an estimated $2.5 billion nationwide, including about $17 million for Vermont in unspent funding for K-12 schools provided under the American Rescue Plan Act that had already been approved for states to spend and created a burdensome appeals process for states and school districts to reapply for money they had been promised. Sanders urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reverse this decision on multiple occasions and ultimately secured her commitment that Vermont schools would receive the funding they were due. Courts also ruled against the Trump administration’s illegal withholding of the funds. The department assured the senator that the funding would be released in June of last year, but has forced the state through a months-long, disastrous and burdensome process to release funds. As part of the Trump administration’s actions to dismantle the Department of Education, the staff who managed these federal funds were fired in March 2025, further delaying the funds from reaching Vermonters. This month, Sanders finally received confirmation from the Department of Education that a total of $11.58 million in funding has been sent to Vermont to reimburse schools for essential activities, such as summer and afterschool programs, school renovations, teacher training, literacy and math coaches and mental health programs. The full list of school districts receiving funds is here: School District Amount Burlington School District $3,884,414 Caledonia Central Supervisory Union $149,375 Central Vermont Career Center School $70,605 Central Vermont Supervisory Union $287,677 Essex North Supervisory Union $81,777 Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union $1,220 Hartford Town School District $32,410 Harwood Unified Union School District $502,261 Kingdom East Unified Union $461,707 Lamoille North Supervisory Union $30,961 Milton Town School District $1,031,840 Mount Mansfield Unified Union $74,370 Orange East Supervisory Union $26,475 Orange Southwest Unified Union $154,246 Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union $232,834 Rutland City School District $420,371 Springfield Town School District $1,314,475 Two Rivers Supervisory Union $13,575 Washington County Mental Health $10,357 Windham Northeast Supervisory Union $606,769 Windham Southwest Supervisory Union $556,979 Agency of Education $1,630,836 Total $11,575,536