North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson was in Gastonia Tuesday, visiting a summer and after-school program that was impacted by the federal government’s recent school funding freeze. The visit comes a week after Jackson joined two dozen other states in filing a lawsuit over the funding.
At the Dream Center Academy, students get tutoring, standardized test prep and a full summer academic program. They even learn life skills like how to change a tire.
The center was impacted by the Trump administration’s nationwide funding freeze, before the administration released some of those funds for after-school programs on Friday. But Jackson said $135 million in funds for North Carolina schools remain frozen, just weeks before students return to class.
He said he’s asked the courts to treat the matter as an emergency, with a hearing in “weeks, not months,” and hopes the courts will institute a preliminary injunction. He said it was an urgent matter, with school just weeks away
“This last-minute maneuver has injected a ton of chaos into public schools across the state, affecting every single school district in the entire state. We need this to be resolved by the court before school opens.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, for instance, says it will not benefit from the recently released funds—and it still has a $12.5 million hole in its budget because of the freeze.
CMS announced a series of temporary budget measures Tuesday “to preserve the student experience” and “avoid immediate disruption” before students return to class in late August. The plan focuses on cuts to contracts, services and vacant positions instead of cutting current employees.
Among other things, the plan redirects $1.5 million from the district’s central office budget and cuts more than $5 million from stipends, software, services, training, curriculum tools and vacant positions. The district is also placing a freeze on spending.
CMS Chief Finance Officer Kelly Kluttz said the plan is “not sustainable beyond 2025-26” and warned further cuts could come in the 2026-27 budget process if the funding isn’t restored.
Jackson, meanwhile, says he’s confident courts will rule in favor of North Carolina and other states that have sued the Trump administration to force the release of more than $6 billion in already-approved funds for schools. Speaking at the Dream Center Academy in Gastonia Tuesday, Jackson pushed back on assertions from the Office of Management and Budget that claimed the funds were being “grossly misused” for a “radical leftwing agenda.”
“There’s no evidence of that at all,” Jackson said. “If they have problems with the program, they can bring those problems to Congress. They can say, hey, here’s what we think you should do. What they can’t do under the law is just cancel all the funding.”
Other districts, such as Wake County Schools, have initiated hiring freezes.
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