The Trump administration took away unspent relief funds from Mass. school districts. Here’s how much each lost.

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced Friday she had "reconsidered" extensions granted to school districts to spend federal relief funds after Sept. 30, 2024.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

New Bedford’s school children struggle with high rates of childhood obesity, asthma, and mental health challenges. Many have no access to a dentist.

District leaders are close to bringing a school-based health center, the first in all of Bristol County, to reality. The project received all its needed regulatory approvals and reached an operating agreement with Greater New Bedford Health Center, which would provide needed primary care, dental, and mental health services to the district’s students and families. School leaders hope the project will also improve school engagement and even achievement by binding families closer to their schools and managing chronic health problems.

Now, all of that was put in jeopardy Friday when the Trump administration announced it was terminating more than $100 million in unspent COVID relief funds to Massachusetts schools. New Bedford would lose $15.6 million, according to state figures. The district depended on about $4 million of those relief funds, known as ESSER, to build the center. While the district has some reserves to cover other projects that are near completion, the health center may now be on the chopping block, according to Superintendent Andrew O’Leary. So, too, is a much-needed HVAC addition to a school built in the 1970s.

“A school-based health center is long overdue in this region,” O’Leary said. “We’re going to have to review if we’re going to execute the final contract.”

Similar projects could be in jeopardy around the state, particularly in districts like Springfield, Fitchburg, and Everett, which are losing around 20 percent of their total relief fund allocations. Here’s what to know.

Which districts were affected?

Including New Bedford, a total of 20 school districts will lose their remaining federal funds unless, as district leaders hope, the cuts are reversed.

In Springfield, the biggest loser — with nearly $50 million on the line — money was going to HVAC installations and outdoor classrooms. It’s unclear how much of that work was completed.

Fitchburg, with one-quarter of its $26 million in federal funds on the line, was planning to spend its money on HVAC and air quality improvements, MassLive reported.

The primary deadline to use the funds was Sept. 30, and the vast majority have been spent. But districts were granted “late liquidation” extensions for things like paying contractors, as long as the money was obligated. Education Secretary Linda McMahon “reconsidered” those extensions, according to a letter she sent to state school officials.

“By failing to meet the clear deadline in the regulation, you ran the risk that the Department would deny your extension request,” McMahon wrote. “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.”

How much did each affected district have left?

According to state data, this is how much unspent relief funds the Trump administration terminated for each of the 20 impacted districts, compared to their total allocations:

• Springfield: Lost $47 million, or 19% of their $244 million total allocation of ESSER funds.
• New Bedford: Lost $16 million, or 21% of their $74 million total
• Fitchburg: Lost $6.6 million, or 25% of their $26 million
• Everett: Lost $4.9 million, or 23% of their $21 million
• Revere: Lost $4.6 million, or 15% of their $30 million
• Boston: Lost $3.5 million, or 0.8% of their $432 million
• Leominster: Lost $1.9 million, or 10.7% of their $17 million
• Stoughton: Lost $1.5 million, or 25% of their $5.9 million
• Worcester: Lost $1.5 million, or 1.2% of their $123 million
• Chelsea: Lost $1.4 million, or 4.5% of their $33 million
• Lawrence: Lost $1.3 million, or 1.6% of their $85 million
• Holyoke: Lost $400,000, or 0.7% of their $58 million.
• Dracut: Lost $650,000, or 12.1% of their $5.4 million
• West Springfield: Lost $350,000, or 2.3% of their $15 million
• Lynn: Lost $340,000, or 0.52% of their $66 million
• Fairhaven: Lost $250,000, or 6.1% of their $4.1 million
• Greater Fall River Regional Vocational Technical: Lost $120,000, or 2.5% of their $4.6 million
• Ludlow: Lost $83,000, or 1.7% of their $4.9 million
• Blue Hills: Lost $21,000, or 1.6% of their $1.3 million
• Mashpee: Lost $2,500, or 0.11% of their $2.3 million

Other impacted school funding

Two private religious schools also lost funds due to similar cuts to the separate “Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools” program in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.

• Mater Dolorosa Catholic School, Holyoke: Lost $120,000, or 15% of their $780,000 American Rescue Plan Act allocation.
• Saint Stanislaus School, Chicopee: Lost $173,000, or 13% of their $1.3 million allocation.

According to the state, a total of $106 million in relief funds were terminated. The above schools and districts combine for about $93 million in lost funds, meaning about $13 million in unspent funds were due to other agencies, such as the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Federal money was supporting teacher training and regional centers that help teachers with emergency licenses get needed certification to continue working in Massachusetts public schools, the state said.