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When a federal judge temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal grant funding just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, it offered a degree of clarity after a day of widespread confusion in the world of education.

Less than a day later, Trump appeared to rescind the Office of Management and Budget memo that set the funding “pause” in motion.

But just 30 minutes after that, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to …rescind the rescission. “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” she posted. “It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.”

She described her post as an attempt to “end the confusion.”

It didn’t.

“For an administration that wants to make the argument that public education is dysfunctional and not serving our students well, they are amplifying and contributing to that narrative,” said Amy Loyd, CEO of All4Ed, a policy and advocacy organization. Until last October, she served in the Department of Education as assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education.

For now, it’s unclear which programs will be affected as the new administration takes stock of spending it deems wasteful or contrary to the president’s agenda. Those goals include freeing up funds for school choice, ending “wokeness” and passing a tax cut package. Start-up funds for charter schools, school lunches, funding for homeless students and hundreds of other federal grants “will be reviewed by department leadership for alignment with Trump administration priorities,” said education department spokeswoman Madison Biederman. 

OMB said it spared major “formula” grants, like Title I for low-income students, special education funding and Impact Aid to districts serving military families. While the administration said Head Start wouldn’t be impacted, the preschool program is still listed among thousands to be reviewed.

The administration originally gave agencies until Feb. 7 to identify grants that advance, among other things, “Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies.” Over several chaotic hours, district leaders and advocates tried to interpret whether their programs would be cut while coming to terms with the enormity of the president’s actions.

“This is more than a typical partisan divide,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. “This is an unusual and unprecedented power grab and every member of Congress should be concerned.”

Challenging the administration’s pause on funding Congress had already appropriated, three associations sued Tuesday, asking for a temporary restraining order “to maintain the status quo.” Just before 5 p.m., as the freeze was about to start, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan granted the request, noting the “specter of irreparable harm.”

Afterschool programs, food banks and organizations that arrange for children to be driven to cancer treatment centers are among those that would be impacted, said Rick Cohen, a spokesman for the National Council of Nonprofits, one of the groups that filed the complaint. Another plaintiff, Main Street Alliance, a network of small businesses, said its members include child care centers that serve low-income families using federal assistance so they can work. 

‘Grave situation’

For many leaders, Tuesday was a rollercoaster.

Just after lunch, Marvin Connelly, superintendent of the Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina, was trying to figure out how he’d handle a potential freeze on over $2 million in Impact Aid — funds that help make up for lost property tax revenue when there’s a nearby military installation. A high-poverty district, Cumberland schools serve over 8,000 children of active service members stationed at Fort Liberty.

“We could really be in a grave situation,” he said. Less than two hours later, he learned the funds would not be affected.

Meanwhile Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, which supports homeless students, was participating on a panel at a conference in Washington when some nonprofit leaders told her they were unable to access federal funds for homeless youth and families.

‘Layers of bureaucracy’

The effort to pause funding followed the president’s first-day executive order that prohibits federal spending on diversity, equity and inclusion. On Thursday, the administration removed or archived hundreds of guidance documents, reports and training materials related to DEI and put staff members focusing on equity within the department on leave.

“Who knew dismantling could happen this quickly?” Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the founder of a network of charter schools, told The 74. “If these moves put America on a path to becoming a colorblind society, that is a very good thing.”

Many conservatives argue such programs amount to a form of illegal discrimination and waste money. Neera Deshpande, a policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum, pointed to reporting that shows the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia spent $6.4 million to staff its equity office.

“What is that money accomplishing besides adding layers of bureaucracy to the school system, burdening teachers, and taking away time and money from schools that could be used for instructional purposes or even extracurricular activities for students?” she asked. “Every dollar that is allocated toward DEI is a dollar that’s not allocated toward … teacher salaries or arts programs or literacy support or sports.”

The reversal in priorities at the federal level has left some nonprofit leaders in a bind. When former President Joe Biden was in office, the director of a teacher apprenticeship initiative applied for a Department of Labor grant to help recruit a diverse pool of potential teachers. Now, he doesn’t know whether that emphasis will hurt his application.

“I hope they can strike a balance with sanity here,” said the man, who asked not to be named to keep from jeopardizing the grant. “I’m not going to talk about the diversity part, but we still have a significant crisis in the teacher pipeline. We have to attract individuals into this profession.”

‘Top-down review’

With more than 2,600 programs targeted for potential review, it’s unclear which might ultimately be left on the chopping block.

But at least one Republican said the National School Lunch Program shouldn’t be off limits. On CNN, Georgia GOP Rep. Rich McCormick suggested low-income students shouldn’t depend on schools for meals. The program, which costs roughly $17 billion, provides free and reduced-price meals for over 28 million children during the school year and extends services through the summer with the help of parks, recreation centers and other community organizations.

“You’re telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King, McDonald’s, during the summer, should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work?” he asked. “I think we need to have a top-down review.”

Other advocates noted that while federal funds make up only about 10% of a district’s operating budget, some school systems rely on those dollars more than others. In 2023, AASA, the School Superintendents Association, created a map showing that overall, federal funds account for a larger share of district budgets in GOP-led states, mainly those in the South and West.

“Any conversation about federal funding levels — whether a cut in overall level or a proposal to freeze access — requires us to be very honest about the role of federal dollars in local school districts, and to be candid about the facts of who … is more reliant on federal dollars,” said Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy governance at AASA.

Responding to news reports that the president had rescinded the freeze memo, Leavitt, the press secretary, posted that the president’s executive orders nonetheless “remain in full force and effect.” 

Ng doesn’t know where that leaves the nation’s schools, but she’s run out of patience. Regarding Leavitt’s post, she asked, “Did it attempt to end confusion, or add a layer for today?”

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