Districts 15, 33 losing federal funding for key supplemental programs

The federal government is terminating a grant program that provides funds to school districts across the state for after-school programming, school-based counseling services, parent education and workforce development support.

Among the districts affected are Palatine Township Elementary District 15 and West Chicago Elementary District 33.

The U.S. Department of Education distributed the Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) grant to Illinois school districts through ACT Now Illinois. ACT Now Illinois received notice on Dec. 12 that it was being discontinued and informed school districts that funding would stop on Dec. 31.

Districts 15 and 33 are both in year two of a five-year grant providing $1 million annually.

For District 15, the grant was split between Lincoln Elementary and Lake Louise Elementary, affecting more than 80 students in after-school care and over 30 receiving counseling.

In District 33, funds were split between Wegner Elementary and Leman Middle School, which have a large number of low-income families.

“If this decision stands, the impact will be immediate and felt deeply,” said Susan Stanton, executive director of ACT Now Illinois, which is appealing the decision. “Thirty-two community schools — in urban neighborhoods, rural communities and small towns with already dwindling resources — will lose crucial funding that supports 19,000 children and their families.”

U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madi Biedermann said the department is not continuing grants that fail to align with the Trump administration's priorities and is reinvesting the money in programs that better serve special needs students.

“Many of (the non-continued grants) use overt race preferences or perpetuate divisive concepts and stereotypes, which no student should be exposed to,” she said.

District 15 officials say pulling grant funding will have an immediate and devastating impact on programs providing essential supports for families facing financial hardship, limited child care access or social-emotional needs.

“This decision harms District 15 students and families, and the timing makes it worse. Ending a grant midyear, in the middle of a multiyear commitment, gives districts almost no time to respond or work with partners to protect critical services students and families are already using,” school board President Samantha Bray Ader said.

The grant brought District 15 together with community partners including the Boys & Girls Club, Partners for Our Communities (POC) and The Bridge Youth and Family Services, funding two community school coordinator positions employed by POC.

“We were very surprised by the sudden notice,” Sarah Norton, District 33's director of community partnerships, said. The timing proved particularly challenging, coming just before winter break.

The funding supported parent engagement classes, after-school, mental health and family health programs and professional development for staff.

The district is scrambling to figure out an alternative funding strategy.

“We're very much in the process of figuring out what this means for our district, for all of these programs,” she said.