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NEWPORT — President Donald Trump’s administration has released funds for the Newport School District’s K-8 after-school and summer program, Grizzly Discovery Center, after its three-week pause on billions in funding for K-12 schools across the country.
“We are so excited to be able to offer the program this school year,” GDC program director Vickie Blanchet said. “We appreciate all the support from the community.”
About $1.3 billion of the $6.8 billion on pause since June 30 was released to Newport and other school districts from the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, one of the six programs included in the pause. Of that $1.3 billion, a grant of about $431,907 will fund GDC through the 2025–2026 school year and summer of 2026. Grants for the following two years are still up in the air, Blanchet said, despite Congress approving them until 2028.
That leaves about $5.5 billion the Trump administration continues to withhold in programs such as Student Support and Academic Enrichment and Supporting Effective Instruction, both of which also provide thousands of dollars to Newport.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program is the only source of funding for GDC, which has 80 spots at Stratton Elementary School and 30 at Sadie Halstead Middle School. The Department of Education has told states that receipt of this funding will include additional conditions on “unallowable activities,” Newport Superintendent Dave Smith wrote in an email. As of Monday, July 21, the Department of Education has yet to define those additional conditions for the states.
The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program improves access to a well-rounded education, school conditions for student learning and the use of technology at Newport, while the Support Effective Instruction Program improves the quality and effectiveness of Newport educators and school leadership, as well as access to effective educators for underserved students.
Funding for all three programs was expected to release to states on July 1, as it has every year. But on June 30, the Department of Education notified state education agencies that the funding would instead be held for review, despite it having already been approved by the legislature and signed into law by Trump in March.
Congress is still drafting the fiscal year 2026 budget, but Trump’s skinny budget request and the Department of Education’s budget justification propose eliminating 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Student Support and Academic Enrichment, Supporting Effective Instruction and the rest of the programs whose funding is under review.
