Trump releases grants to Merced schools. What programs were at risk?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trump administration released $800M in federal education grants to California.
- Merced Union High School District confirmed programs will continue uninterrupted.
- Los Banos schools planned to use state and local funds if grants had remained frozen.
On Friday, the Trump administration unfroze four federal education grants that had been undergoing review, ending nearly four weeks of uncertainty for Merced County school districts.
At the Merced Union High School District the release means “all programs will continue without any interruptions,” according to Viviana Fuentes, a spokesperson for MUHSD.
Trump announced the freeze of five grants on June 30, just one day before the grants had been traditionally dispersed. The five grants fund English learning programs, teacher training, migrant education, school enrichment and after school programs. In total, Trump withheld over $800 million from California schools according to the Learning Policy Institute.
Without the five grants, MUHSD would have paused ASSETS, an afterschool program in Merced County, Fuentes said after the initial announcement. Trump unfroze the grant that funds afterschool programs on July 18. Fuentes said the district had prepared to cover the cost of programs under two of the grants.
Merced Union High School district serves around 10,500 students. Last year in total the school district received $11.1 million in federal funds out of its $222 million total budget.
The Los Banos Unified School District stood to lose $1.38 million in funding according to a July 17 statement from Sean Richey, the interim superintendent.
Richey wrote that the district would have been “able to keep programs running utilizing a combination of state grants and local funds” in the event the grants were not released.
The Merced City School District, Atwater Elementary School District and Livingston Union School District did not respond to questions from the Sun-Star in time for publication.
Grants for teacher training and English instruction are listed in school budgets but because grants for migrant education, afterschool programs and academic enrichment are grouped with other grants it is not possible to determine the exact amount each district could have lost.
MCSD’s 2025-26 budget includes nearly $12 million of federal revenue. For teacher training, the district stood to receive $766,000 and for English language instruction, it stood to receive $251,000.
AESD’s 2025-26 budget included over $3.8 million in federal revenue. That included $222,000 for teacher training and $175,000 for English language instruction.
LUSD included over $1.5 million of federal funds in its 2025-26 budget. This included $110,000 for teacher training and $142,000 for English language instruction.