School districts across Massachusetts are grappling with millions of federal dollars being “terminated.” That’s what Governor Maura Healey’s calling it after the Department of Education pulled over $100 million in not-yet-spent pandemic-related dollars. The move came as a shock, with the biggest school system in western Massachusetts suffering the biggest setback
Almost a year ago, a dozen Springfield school and city leaders gathered at a nearly-finished Sumner Avenue Preschool. Built on the site of a former Friendly’s restaurant, officials said the new classrooms would help meet high demand.
It was a project estimated to cost around $3.6 million – one that would make use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER funds.
“As many of the media has reported, many other school districts use these ESSER funds for personnel-type things, and now they've faced layoffs, service cuts and program cuts,” Sarno said at the July 15 event. “We did not do that. We're using these for one-time enhancements that benefit all. I think that's extremely important.”
It was a point of pride for the district. Instead of spending $243.6 million in ESSER allocations on major staffing and programming budget gaps, Springfield Public Schools often opted for one-time expenses - usually facility upgrades.
It’s how one of the last packages of ESSER funds for the city - about $60 million – were to be spent. The dollars would help fund new HVAC systems, playgrounds and other facilities across the district – projects the city would be reimbursed for once fully-finished, says Patrick Roach, Chief Financial and Operations Officer of Springfield Public Schools.
With spending deadlines on the horizon and most of the work nearly done, things seemed to be in order heading into the end of last week.
Then, came Friday.
“We just learned about the $47 million cut,” Roach said, referencing how Springfield appeared to suffer the most by recent federal cuts affecting leftover ESSER dollars. “The federal government let the state know at five o’clock on Friday - the state, at eight o'clock that night, passed it along to us.”
Governor Healey says the Department of Education terminated “$106 million in K-12 education grant funding for Massachusetts” in a move Friday evening, canceling unused COVID relief dollars intended for school districts.
About $2 billion was yanked from 41 states, Healey’s office reported. This, after the Trump administration reaffirmed in February that Massachusetts had until March 2026 to spend any such leftover funds, after being granted extensions.
In a letter to state chiefs of education sent Friday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said such deadline extensions were “not justified” – and declared that day, March 28th, marked the end of “the time period to liquidate obligations under the Education Stabilization Fund” – which ESSER is a part of.
It puts districts like Springfield in a rough position, Roach says. Most of the SPS projects were either done or nearly-done. The trouble is, reimbursements can’t happen if projects are all but finished.
“A lot of our projects are complete - we haven't been able to submit [for reimbursement] because either the contractor didn't send us a bill yet, the architect didn't sign off – we have some playgrounds that haven't been signed off on because, in the scope of work, there's supposed to be grass, and grass seed has been planted, but it hasn't grown yet,” he explained to WAMC. “So, the architect won't sign off on the plans because the grass hasn't grown … but the playgrounds have been used all winter by the students, and they're open right now.”
He adds that after hearing the news, SPS is in the process of just doing what it can to file all possible paperwork with the state in a bid to secure what funding it can.
Springfield may be the most left-in-the-lurch, but it’s not the only school district losing out. On the other side of the state, New Bedford is now out $15.6 million while Fitchburg is missing out on $6.5 million.
Meanwhile, in the Pioneer Valley, Holyoke and West Springfield are frozen out of almost $400,000 and $354,000, respectively.
In a Facebook post, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia says the cuts are likely to affect a program connecting families with Behavioral Health Network services, school boiler and rooftop replacement work, and a multi-use pavilion that's finished, save for some paint work.
Ludlow is also out $83,000 - not a massive sum by comparison, but for State Senator Jake Oliveira, whose district includes Ludlow and parts of Springfield – the DoE’s decision feels like a move designed to cause chaos.
“$47 million represents almost 7.5 percent of [Springfield Public Schools’] total operating budget for a year and to see that ripped away by this administration without a blink of an eye, and to see other school districts like Ludlow that I represent, with smaller dollars like $83,000 - think about it this way: that's a teacher,” he told WAMC Wednesday. “When you cut that from schools, it puts cities and towns into even greater financial uncertainty, but it just goes to show that this administration continues to sow chaos among some of our most vulnerable populations, including children, veterans and farmers … it's just unconscionable to me.”
McMahon’s letter argues “extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion.”
What comes next for Springfield Public Schools is likely to be discussed at a School Committee Budget & Finance Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday, says School Committee Vice Chair LaTonia Monroe Naylor. In a Facebook post, she says she was “equally upset and disgusted” by the DoE’s decision.
Also affected by the change were two local Catholic schools - Mater Dolorosa Catholic School in Holyoke - $119,000 - and Saint Stanislaus School in Chicopee - $172,000.
