GRANDVILLE, Mich. — According to state education leaders, the federal Department of Education is pulling back some pandemic relief funding from 27 Michigan school districts. The funding was to be used for pre-approved infrastructure projects. With five school districts in West Michigan impacted, it's a move that has residents reacting in favor and against.
From HVAC maintenance to infrastructure improvements, those are just some of the projects across 27 Michigan school districts that are now hanging in the balance.
On Friday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to state superintendents, saying the extended deadline for pandemic aid reimbursement requests was not justified, moving it from March 28 2026 to March 28 2025, that day.
The letter reads in part:
By failing to meet the clear deadline in the regulation, you ran the risk that the Department would deny your extension request. 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.
The letter continues to say that the department will consider reimbursements on an "individual project-specific basis."
According to state education officials in West Michigan, Battle Creek Public Schools has nearly $3.4 million in 'American Rescue Plan' funds remaining.
Under the 'Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations', both Grandville and Greenville public schools have around $24,000 left.
Wayland-Union Schools has about $66,000 remaining, while Van Buren Public Schools has $90,000.
Michigan state superintendent Michael Rice put out a statement that reads in part:
"A change in administrations should not void previous commitments. Without the promised March 2026 date for federal reimbursement requests, districts may be forced to reduce instructional expenditures for students, diminish savings, or both to honor these contracts."
"To see schools that I have friends and family members that currently are enrolled at, it's kind of devastating, because now I know that they don't have the support that they need," said Briana McCallum Tuesday.
It's a hard pill to swallow for McCallum, an Allendale resident with loved ones in the affected school districts.
"That's why these schools have applied to get this money. It's kind of sad to see knowing that he [President Trump] actually is following to what he said he would do, take away from the youth," McCallum said.
"I trust Trump. I am one that you know, I believe that he knows what he's doing," said Grandville resident Lynn Dornbush.
For others, like Dornbush, it's all a part of the current administration's process.
"I also believe that what what Trump is doing with the whole Doge thing. I agree with that too, because I believe he's cutting a lot of waste that, you know is very important right now. So yeah, I'm relieved," Dornbush said.
It's a divisive issue in West Michigan and nationwide.
"Having a president like that, that's not really helping us, bringing us down, going backwards on his words. That's not really a good inspiration for us," said McCallum.
"I step back and I say, 'You know what, go for it.' Because I trust my president," Dornbush added.
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