Belated, Important Progress: Abbott Ends Blockade of Some Education Funds, Still Owes Schools the Final $5.5 Billion
Press Release
This afternoon, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) responded to Governor Abbott's announcement that he would finally release $11.2 billion of the federal funds passed in relief packages and which have been available since March:
"Belated but very substantial progress in responding to our congressional calls and those of public school advocates across Texas. Governor Abbott has finally yielded to the requirement that our most recent federal aid to education must be used to supplement assistance for our pandemic-impacted schools, not simply to replace state education funding. But state Republicans are hardly justified in patting themselves on the back for ending a blockade that should never have occurred. After four months, Governor Abbott is still obstructing distribution of the remaining $5.5 billion, which Congress approved in December. Even today, he has failed to offer any justification for his delay and attempt to divert these funds from our schools. Our children's future is not a place to cut corners and misuse federal aid to education for non-educational purposes."
This comes after all Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation joined a request, led by U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and sent to the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, seeking to overcome Governor Abbott's obstruction of federal education funds from reaching Texas schools. In their April 16 letter, they urged the Department of Education to ensure history does not repeat itself by strictly enforcing the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements outlined in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act (CRRSA) and the maintenance of effort and maintenance of equity provisions in the American Rescue Plan. Governor Abbott's diversion and delay in getting funds to our schools is a bad sequel to Governor Rick Perry diverting federal funds intended for schools into the state's coffers, with the assistance of then-Attorney General Abbott.
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