A federal grant that supports 60 full-time staff members at 47 community schools around Idaho who connect families with local resources will end on Dec. 31, unless an appeal is successful.

The U.S. Department of Education on Friday informed the United Way of Treasure Valley that it is discontinuing its portion of the Community Schools Program grant.

The department in 2023, under the Biden administration, awarded the nonprofit with a five-year, $45.9 million grant to fund the Idaho Rural Scaling Full-Service Community Schools project.

Now, under the Trump administration, department staff concluded that the project does not prioritize “merit, fairness, and excellence in education” and instead focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), according to the notice of discontinuation that the United Way of Treasure Valley shared with EdNews.

Laura Roghaar, project manager for community schools at United Way of Treasure Valley, said DEI training was a required element of the project proposal several years ago, but no DEI training has taken place or is planned. The group plans on submitting an appeal on Wednesday evening. It would miss out on $30 million in grant funding if the grant ends at the end of the month.

“We’re gonna fight like hell so it doesn’t happen,” Roghaar said.

There are 65 public schools in Idaho that use the community school strategy. Of those, 47 receive funding from the grant to support a full-time staff member, called a community schools coordinator. They organize resources that already exist in the community and bring them into the school, where they can be accessed by kids and families.

The five-year grant was designed as a ramp toward district self-sustainability.

“If it’s cut off now, we’re really losing a shot to make a long-term meaningful intervention in the course of success for Idaho kiddos,” Roghaar said.

The American Falls School District has four staff members funded through the grant. Superintendent Randy Jensen said they help coordinate a food bank, a free clinic, an income tax assistance program and a partnership with the Idaho Department to Labor to help people find jobs.

“I don’t think that has anything to do with DEI,” Jensen said. “I think that just has to do with people trying to make their lives better.”

The coordinators are critical positions, Jensen said, and the district will do whatever it can to keep them in place if the grant funding ends. If this was a healthy budget year in Idaho, they would hope for a funding increase, but Jensen’s not confident in the state’s education funding outlook.

Instead, he hopes state officials will help. He mentioned State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield and Gov. Brad Little.

“These are things that the governor believes in and wants, and so I’m just hoping some of our state leaders really step in and try to help us out here in the appeal,” Jensen said.

In the Moscow School District, community schools coordinator Brian Smith said losing the grant funding will leave them “gutted.”

“How could we ever replicate this?” Smith asked.

The grant supports the Moscow district’s family resource hub, which provides free clothing, toiletries, schools supplies and books to any family in the community, even if they don’t have a kid in the school district.

It also supports partnerships with local businesses. A local hospital helps train students, a martial arts dojo provides an after-school program and a real estate company has sponsored free meals in the summer by serving food on Frisbees.

“Lots of kids come because who doesn’t want a free lunch on a Frisbee on a summer day?” Smith said.

These programs enrich opportunities for kids, he said, and grow the economic infrastructure in the area. In another example, a local engineering firm sends engineers to lead an entire day of activities with students. The company also donates scrap material the district uses for its welding program.

“None of this would be facilitated without having the staffing and the programming funds to pay for these endeavors,” Smith said.

Staff members at the United Way of Idaho were devastated when they received the notice of discontinuation on Friday, said marketing and communications specialist Lukas Robertson.

“We work with these folks all day long, and we hear these success stories,” Robertson said. “Something like this going away will have a massive impact negatively on kids and families in Idaho.”

The funds were intended to be active from the 2024-25 school year to the spring of 2029. The nonprofit has until Friday, Dec. 19, to submit an appeal.

“The grant officers at (the U.S. Department of Education) have been hard to pin down, but they have committed to responding to appeal by Dec. 31,” Roghaar said. “That is also our stop-work date that was issued in the non-continuance letter.”

That quick timeline means some schools will have to tell kids that events they had planned next month may not happen.

“We have plans — promised plans — with students that we’re going to have to cancel and end,” Smith said.

The United Way of the Treasure Valley set up a website with live updates on the status of the appeal. Click here to learn more.