WORCESTER—At the July 10 meeting of the Worcester School Committee, Superintendent Brian Allen warned that the district could lose $3.5 million due to a federal funding freeze announced by the Trump Administration.
The freeze affects $108 million in K-12 funding to Massachusetts and could significantly impact positions in Worcester tied to instructional coaching and school safety.
Allen said that while no final decisions have been made, the district is monitoring the situation closely and weighing possible legal responses.
“Clearly that’s a significant impact not only for us,” Allen said. “We are hearing of potential lawsuits that may be initiated to challenge the freezing of these funds, and so whether Worcester again participates in that lawsuit we certainly will be in discussion with the School Committee in the coming weeks.”
He confirmed that he has been in contact with Democracy Forward, the advocacy group that previously sued to block efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Worcester Public Schools served as a witness in that earlier case. It remains unclear whether a new lawsuit will be filed in response to the latest freeze.
Allen emphasized that the district is not currently planning to eliminate any of the 20 jobs supported by the affected grants. However, contingency planning is underway.
“We’d have to look at the totality of our funding to make a recommendation to the school committee,” he said, “to say if these funds were to be somehow held for a long period of time or reduced what would the administration recommend to actually balance the budget.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding federal funding, the committee did approve four new grants totaling more than $940,000. The grants include:
- $439,688 from the Mass Life Science Center
- $30,000 from the Boston Scientific Foundation
- $71,271 from the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation
- $399,996 from the Commonwealth Corporation
The funds support science programming, enrichment opportunities for University Park students, and workforce training initiatives aimed at unemployed and underemployed residents.
Jason Bleau, a seasoned reporter from Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, has over 11 years of news media experience. He has worked as a news anchor for WINY 1350 AM, contributed to Stonebridge Press publications, and covered racing as a Press Box coordinator at Thompson Speedway. Outside journalism, he is a movie enthusiast, freelance film reviewer, banker, and solo musician. He can be reached at bleau.jason@yahoo.com
