On July 1, the Department of Education froze $6.8 billion in funding, but the funds are getting released! This is great news because Pitt County Schools stood to lose about $2.2 million dollars. These funds are crucial – they help pay for teacher training, student academic support, English language learners, afterschool programs, and more. United Way of Pitt County’s Early Grades Student Success Academy in partnership with Pitt County Schools recently gave every rising first grader that was a part of the Summer Reading Camp the chance to choose ten free books to take home. The Early Grades Student Success Academy is funded in part by funds that had been frozen and are now being released. You can read more about how North Carolina joined nearly two dozen states in a lawsuit over billions of federal education dollars being withheld here.
But the fight is not over! In the federal Department of Education’s proposed budget beginning October 1, all of these same cuts are included again. If you want to help ensure our schools keep getting this funding, please consider contacting your members of Congress now to tell them not to cut education funding this fall!
