Funding freeze before NC school starts creates 'a ton of chaos,' AG Jackson says

Abigail Pender, The Charlotte Observer on Jul 22, 2025

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North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson on Tuesday said a “last-minute maneuver” from the Trump administration to freeze millions of public education dollars has created “a ton of chaos” weeks before the start of school.

Jackson’s statement alongside remarks from State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis occurred at Gastonia’s Dream Center Academy around the same time Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools announced in a news release an immediate freeze in spending and described future cuts which it said will be the largest among N.C. school districts. If the money is eliminated, nearly 1,000 educators across the state could lose their jobs, Jackson said.

“The scale of the impact is broad, it’s severe, and it’s immediate, because they pulled the rug at the last minute,” he said.

The night before the federal government was supposed to distribute approved funds by Congress, North Carolina received a three-sentence email announcing the freeze, he said.

The U.S. Department of Education said it froze funds while it reviewed whether they “align with President Donald Trump’s priorities,” The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Jackson and North Carolina joined 23 other states last week in suing the federal Department of Education over the $7 billion funding freeze nationwide. The currently frozen funds are supposed to supplement school initiatives for low-income families, teacher recruitment, English language acquisition and academic enrichment.

He said at the Tuesday news conference he’s confident the states will win the case and force the release of approved funds by Congress.

The states have requested the case be treated as an emergency, Jackson added, and believe there could be a hearing within weeks.

“If we don’t get the response from the court as quickly as we want, there is some wiggle room, but not much,” Jackson said, citing a conversation with N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green where he said current funds could be stretched for two or three months.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

CMS said in a Tuesday news release it’s still waiting on $12.5 million from the federal government. The district said it’s using “carryover funds” from last year and placing a freeze on spending. That will affect external contracts, services and vacant positions rather than cutting employees.

The district’s news release described shifting money from its central office budget to retain staff as well as cutting money from stipends, software, training and curriculum tools.

“While 2025-26 is going to be an extremely difficult budget year, we prepared for the uncertainty of the entitlement grants,” said CMS Chief Finance Officer Kelly Kluttz. “We made these decisions to protect the student experience as a whole.”

The first day of CMS classes is Aug. 25.

If CMS doesn’t receive the $12.5 million, it would make an equal amount in cuts for the 2026-2027 budget year, the news release said. Those cuts would occur during the normal budget process that occurs in early 2026, the district said.

“However, a cut of this magnitude would negatively impact every school and every student,” the district said in its news release.

Some money released

Gastonia’s Dream Center Academy, where Jackson and Davis gathered Tuesday, is expected to receive frozen federal money as part of about $36 million in 21st Century Community Learning Center funds released to North Carolina last week. The money released goes to community learning centers, which offer academic programs outside of regular school hours.

Jackson and Davis toured the center and interacted with a handful of students and teachers before speaking to reporters.

“While I’m encouraged that the department has released 21st Century grant funds, there are still countless more students like the ones here at the Dream Center whose dreams remain frozen because of the $130 million that have not been released,” Davis said.

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