This MS Coast school district is losing $1.1 million in COVID funds. Here’s why

Four Mississippi Coast school districts are losing access to thousands of dollars this year because the U.S. Department of Education stopped giving states money it promised them after the coronavirus pandemic.

The Harrison County School District has lost access to about $1.1 million intended to help recover from the pandemic and support students who are homeless, according to records from the Mississippi Department of Education.

The Jackson County School District has lost access to more than $241,000 in federal funding, the records show.

The districts are among dozens that could be impacted across the state. In a letter, State Superintendent Lance Evans called the news “unexpected” and pleaded with the Department of Education to reconsider.

“The impact of this sudden reversal,” he wrote, “is detrimental to Mississippi students.”

The federal government gave states billions of dollars after the pandemic emptied classrooms five years ago. School districts used it to train teachers, upgrade buildings and tutor students, among other projects.

In her own letter to state leaders last month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said letting schools keep spending taxpayer money on COVID-19 relief so long after the pandemic was “not justified.”

“Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion,” she said.

The decision is one step in President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul the federal government. He has already said he hopes to close the Education Department, which would require an act of Congress.

Impact on Mississippi Coast

Harrison County’s funding was intended for two programs. One paid for professional development, recovering from learning loss and building improvements, according to the district. Records show the school district has lost access to about $792,000 for that program.

The other program was supposed to help students who are homeless get mental health counseling, medical services, clothes, school supplies and learning support, the district said. Records show Harrison County schools have lost access to more than $333,000 in federal funding for those plans.

Harrison County Superintendent William Bentz said those efforts are still happening because the district has enough flexibility in its budget to pay for the projects while it decides on next steps. The district is still offering clothing to students who are homeless, he said, and professional development programs are still running.

“We’re very blessed and fortunate that we’re not in a situation where we have to just completely halt everything,” Bentz said.

He said it was still unclear how much money the district will actually lose. But he estimated it would probably be “significantly less” than $1.1 million. District leaders are considering using other federal grants to cover some of the lost pandemic relief money.

The district is also under contract for several HVAC system upgrades that the canceled federal funding was supposed to cover, Bentz said. It was not immediately clear how much those contracts are worth, but Bentz said the district hoped to cover the cost through existing federal grants. The state superintendent said some districts across Mississippi are still finishing projects with contractors “that cannot simply be terminated without significant financial, educational, and legal consequences.”

It is unclear how losing access to the money will affect the Jackson County School District. Superintendent David Baggett did not return calls and emails last week, and staff said he was in a meeting when a reporter visited the district office on Thursday.

The Gulfport and Pascagoula-Gautier school districts will lose some money, but superintendents said the impact would be small. Gulfport Superintendent Glen East said the district will absorb $8,000 used for training staff on how to care for students in a pandemic. Pascagoula-Gautier Superintendent Billy Ellzey said the district would lose roughly $9,000 for an employee assistance program that will otherwise continue as planned.

What’s next?

Sixteen states sued the Trump administration over the decision on Thursday and argued canceling the unspent federal relief money was illegal. The Biden administration previously extended the deadline to spend the money until March 2026.

The Trump administration ended access to the funding last month.

The lost funding is only part of district’s larger budgets. The Department of Education also said it would consider exceptions on an “individual project-specific basis” and invited states to explain why a project should keep being funded.

A spokesperson for the Education Department said on social media that leaders would consider appeals “directly related to students’ COVID learning loss recovery.”

Some state education groups said cutting off funding risked hurting students.

Ending the funding could mean some schools must reduce staff, programs and end some services for students, said Kyra Roby, policy director at One Voice, a Jackson nonprofit that advocates for public education. She said more money leads to better student achievement.

Ellzey said the federal funding had already paid for tutoring, HVAC improvements, cafeteria expansions and a gym for elementary students in the Pascagoula-Gautier School District. He said the funding helped increase the district’s test scores.

The biggest dilemmas could come in districts that are still in the middle of construction projects delayed by supply chain issues after the pandemic. It is unclear how many districts across the state could face that fate.

But districts under contracts “are on the hook for all of this funding,” said Nancy Loome, executive director of a public school advocacy group called The Parents’ Campaign.

“They are going to have to come up with it from somewhere,” she said.

This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM.