Moskowitz Leads Broward County Colleagues Pressing Administration to Release Public Education Funding

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) this week led his Broward County-area colleagues pressing the Trump Administration to release critical funding currently withheld from public education programs. It comes as the Trump Administration has enacted an abrupt and unprecedented freeze on nearly $7 billion in Congressionally-appropriated resources for public education, threatening funds for public schools across Broward County and South Florida.

In their letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Moskowitz and his colleagues Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Frederica Wilson, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick pressed the Administration to "immediate[ly] release…the full amount of funding as directed by Congress." As they note, "state and local education agencies have planned their budgets with the expectation that these funds would be distributed on time," and changing course now could risk program closures, staff layoffs, and reduction in student support.

As the group notes, the consequences of this funding freeze "are already severe." In South Florida, Broward County Public Schools alone have more than $30 million in federal grant funding now in limbo, and that could either fully or partially impact the salary and benefits of more than 260 employees. With these funds supporting everything from teacher training and benefits to after-school and enrichment programs, disrupting their distribution would disrupt the resources that Broward County students and teachers rely on.

Moskowitz, Wasserman Schultz, Wilson, and Cherfilus-McCormick close with a call to release these funds, warning that delaying their distribution would "not only violate the intent of the law but also risk long-term damage to student outcomes and community well-being."

For more information on the group's letter to Secretary McMahon, click HERE.

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