By Harold C. Ford
Flint Community Schools (FCS) finds itself in increased fiscal uncertainty after U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced on March 28, 2025, that the deadline on federal reimbursement for COVID-related projects was changed to that very day at 5 p.m.
Prior to McMahon’s announcement, the deadline had been one year later – March 28, 2026 – for reimbursement of pre-approved projects.
The amount in question for FCS is a staggering $15,603,029.05 – more than any other school district in the state – according to information at the website of the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). Altogether, 12 Michigan school districts are awaiting reimbursement of already-spent funds totaling $40,069,759.21.
As recently as February 2025, 41 states and the District of Columbia were told by the U.S. Department of Education that they had another year to seek reimbursements from the $122 billion allocated for schools as part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP).
As reported by the nonprofit education news site, “The 74,” McMahon deemed it “unreasonable” that states would rely on earlier decisions made during the Biden administration regarding COVID spending. “We’ve seen a lot of receipts and reimbursement requests that just aren’t aligned with what students need in this moment,” she said.
McMahon indicated a possible reconsideration of the decision to withhold funds if states can make a stronger case for how government-funded projects address the impact of COVID on “student learning loss.”
The move has thrown hundreds of school districts across the nation into a state of fiscal uncertainty, even with the Biden administration citing the positive impact of ARP funds, across sectors from education to small business, before the Trump transition.
Under a separate appropriation titled Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations, 15 other Michigan school districts have similarly had reimbursements of funds totaling $1.9 million frozen by the federal government. Carman-Ainsworth is among those districts, with an amount totaling $234,818.
Thus, 27 Michigan districts are in a similar state of budgetary uncertainty following the March 28 announcement by McMahon.
MDE response
In a March 31 press statement, Michigan’s top two education officials responded to McMahon’s announcement suspending refunds for COVID-relief projects in schools.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice said, “The U.S. secretary of education needs to rethink her March 28 communication … Congress must insist that federal commitments to schools and districts that they represent be honored.”
“Walking back a federal commitment to pandemic relief funds to improve the air quality, healthfulness, and safety of schools coming out of the pandemic is unacceptable,” Rice continued. “These funds were approved to be spent on projects including heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, boilers, and windows.”
He added that Michigan’s 27 affected districts “entered contracts with the understanding that their preapproved projects would be reimbursed by the federal government.”
In the same release, State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh said: “As a public health professional for many years, it is a particular affront to me that the U.S. Department of Education would walk back its commitment to projects that protect the health and safety of our students – including for schools in communities such as Flint, Pontiac, and Benton Harbor that were hit especially hard by COVID-19.”
One day later, on April 1, MDE indicated that it will work with districts, like Flint, on whether to pursue approval of an extension option for payment of individual projects affected by the federal government’s March 28 decision.
FCS response
In an April 2 press release, FCS Superintendent Kevelin Jones stated that all federal funds “have been allocated and spent responsibly in compliance with federal and state guidelines.”
FCS was allocated more than $150 million in several iterations of government funding as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jones indicated that “confusion seems to stem from recent changes in federal policy announced by the U.S. Department of Education … We are working closely with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) to ensure that our district is not impacted by this policy change.”
He added, “We have not been notified of any federal request to return funds.”
