Warner & Kaine Issue Statements After Trump Administration Heeds Demands to Release Funding for Virginia’s K-12 Schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, both D-VA, issued the following statements after the Trump Administration heeded their demands that it release the full $108 million in federal funding it was illegally withholding from K-12 schools across Virginia.
“It’s clear by now that Donald Trump’s erratic way of governing spares no one – not even Virginia’s schoolchildren,” said Warner. “After pushing the Trump administration, I am relieved to see them release this critical educational funding, but the truth is that it shouldn’t have been withheld in the first place. I will continue fighting to ensure that schools and children in the commonwealth are not collateral damage in Donald Trump’s path of chaos and destruction.”
“When the Trump Administration picks a fight with Virginia, we all have a responsibility to stand up,” said Kaine. “After the Administration began illegally withholding $108 million from our K-12 schools, I met with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Southwest Virginia to highlight the devastating impacts of that decision—and gained valuable insights that I shared at a HELP hearing to urge my Republican colleagues to do the same. After the Trump Administration heeded our call and restored $23 million in funding for the Clubs and other 21st Century Community Learning Centers last week, I kept the pressure to release the remaining $85 million our schools need and deserve. I’m glad to see that funding is being released and will keep doing all that I can to challenge the Trump Administration’s war against Virginia schools.”
Warner and Kaine have repeatedly battled the Trump Administration over its illegal withholding of already-appropriated federal funding. On July 3, 2025, the senators issued a statement demanding that the Administration promptly release all $108 million in funding for Virginia K-12 education—including money for teacher training, after-school programs, and mental health resources—that had already been duly appropriated by Congress. In the following weeks, Kaine met with local officials, parents, and leadership of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia in Vinton, Virginia; and with officials of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Washington, D.C. Funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, including Boys & Girls Clubs, was released shortly after. In April 2025, Warner and Kaine joined 40 of their congressional colleagues in excoriating the Trump Administration over its illegal funding freeze to Head Start programs on which thousands of families and children in Virginia rely.
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