Leaders of Colorado school districts said Wednesday that they may be forced to eliminate jobs within a matter of weeks if the Trump administration doesn’t release roughly $70 million in withheld K-12 funding.
Officials from Denver Public Schools, Jeffco Public Schools and the Lake County School District told Gov. Jared Polis during a roundtable discussion that without the pledged money, they will be forced to cut after-school programs and other services for students, as well as jobs that they have already filled for the 2025-26 academic year.
“It’s a huge impact when the funding we are planning on doesn’t show up and it’s at the 11th hour and we’re scrambling,” Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland said.
She did not say how many positions could be eliminated in Jeffco Public Schools. But DPS leaders said at least 11 jobs serving multilingual students would be on the chopping block.
Lake County Superintendent Kate Bartlett told the governor the district has about 10 days to figure out whether the federal money is coming and whether or not it will need to slash staffing levels for an after-school program.
“We’re in the process of making that decision,” she said of the potential job cuts. “It’s an earthquake.”
The federal government unexpectedly withheld billions in K-12 funding nationwide that districts expected to receive earlier this month. The money had already been appropriated by Congress and included in districts’ budgets for the upcoming school year.
The Trump administration has only said that it is reviewing the funds and has not indicated whether the money will ultimately be released.
“This is kind of unprecedented given the timing and the uncertainty regarding these funds,” said Wayne Peel, chief financial officer for the Colorado Department of Education. “…We are deeply concerned about the impact.”
Polis said the state — which is facing its own budget woes — doesn’t have money to give to districts to make up for the loss in federal grants.
“This is not funding the schools have on hand, but it’s funding that was in the budget,” he said. “…There’s still a chance — we hope — that this decision will be reversed.”
It’s not clear how many jobs might be in jeopardy. The withheld money funded more than 400 employees statewide during the 2023-24 academic year, according to the latest data shared by the education department.
The Lake County School District stands to lose more than $400,000, most of which funds an after-school program for students, Bartlett said, adding that the program is necessary because many parents travel to other counties for work.
If the Trump administration doesn’t release the money, the Leadville-based district will have to reduce staff or hours for its after-school program, Bartlett told the governor.
Jeffco Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, expected to receive about $3 million from the federal government last week.
The money is used for recruiting and training staff, but also fund a mobile welcome center to support students who are new to the country, Dorland said.
“That’s probably one of my biggest worries,” Dorland said of the future of the welcome center. “We have hired positions to support these programs.”
She said the district has a month to figure out what to do — including how many jobs to cut — if the money doesn’t arrive soon. School leaders need to know this month if there are cuts and teachers need to be told by August whether they still have a job or not, Dorland said.
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