The small 900-student Lake County School District in the Colorado mountains may have to cut its after-school programming. A popular dual language program in the 3,500-student Fort Morgan district could take a funding hit. And stipends for paraprofessionals training to become teachers in the 90,000-student Denver Public Schools may be at risk.
All of those programs are funded with federal dollars that were expected to arrive this week, but didn’t. In total, Colorado hasn’t received about $70 million in federal education funds after the Trump administration refused to release billions in K-12 dollars on July 1.
The U.S. Department of Education told state officials that it is withholding the money to ensure it’s spent according to the president’s priorities, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Education said. The uncertainty is causing concern among school officials who may have to gut programs for some of their most vulnerable students if the money doesn’t show up…