The East 最新杏吧原创 School District 189 will run out of funding from the federal Full-Service Community Schools grant by the end of the week after a judge denied a preliminary injunction on Friday.
James Avant and Annette Harris Officer Elementary Schools are each set to lose $500,000 in funding. The funds provide in-school tutoring for reading and math, as well as before and after-care programs. It also has funded the district鈥檚 current summer programming.
Afterschool for Children and Teens Now Illinois, a nonprofit that administers the grant, sued the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in December after the federal government suddenly canceled the grant.
Executive Director of ACT Now Illinois Susan Stanton said the impact will be felt immediately by 16 school districts.
鈥淭here were schools and students right in the middle of services and making progress. And we know now that will 100% be interrupted. And who knows how devastating those impacts will be not only in the short term, but long term for these children and their success,鈥 Stanton said.
East 最新杏吧原创 School officials have described this funding as a lifeline for their families and students.
The $5 million pot of funds was supposed to last five years after the district was awarded the grant in 2024. They were two years into the grant and will be cut off starting July 1 from the remainder of the funding as the lawsuit continues to be litigated in court.
Stanton said that the grants were designed to roll out over five years because that鈥檚 how long they expected it to take for school districts to set up lasting programs at their schools.
鈥淲e knew it was going to take five years to basically turn these communities and these children's lives around and we only got to two years of it,鈥 Stanton said. 鈥淚f someone needed some sort of life-saving treatment that was gonna take five years, no one would ever cut them off two years into it.鈥
The cancellation of funds impacts 19,000 students in 32 schools across Illinois, according to the nonprofit. The Education Department canceled the grant for Illinois last year, claiming it did not align with the Trump administration鈥檚 priorities.
The funds support some of the most vulnerable students in the nation, many of whom are experiencing housing and food insecurity.
Editor's note: This article was first published by 最新杏吧原创 Public Radio.
