U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez is urging the Trump administration to reinstate magnet faculty funding for New York Metropolis.
Images by way of Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS, Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/REUTERS
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez is urging the federal authorities to reinstate funding for New York Metropolis’s magnet colleges, claiming the administration’s choice to cancel already-awarded grants was “illegal” and will affect college students for years to return.
The Trump administration in September canceled $47 million in federal Magnet College Help Program funds after the town missed a deadline set by the federal Division of Schooling to alter its insurance policies on transgender college students.
Federal officers had mentioned the town’s guidelines permitting transgender college students to make use of services and take part on sports activities groups in keeping with their gender id violated Title IX, and mentioned funding can be pulled until these insurance policies had been modified.
The federal DOE canceled 5 magnet faculty grants in New York Metropolis. File photograph courtesy of Gerardo Romo/NYC Council Media Unit
The insurance policies, which align with metropolis and state regulation, remained in place — although Mayor Eric Adams publicly thought-about altering them — and the federal authorities summarily canceled 5 totally different five-year MSAP grants. It equally lower MSAP grants for college districts in Chicago and Virginia.
“The administration is punishing New York children because the city refuses to turn its back on transgender students,” Velázquez advised Brooklyn Paper in an announcement. “That is unacceptable. Congress approved this funding, and the administration must do the right thing and release it immediately.”
The grants supplied “critical funding” for STEAM, arts, engineering, journalism and management applications at colleges “which have historically served isolated, and overwhelmingly low income, Hispanic and Black students,” in line with a lawsuit the town filed towards the federal DOE in October.
5 of these colleges are situated in Velázquez’s district: P.S. 171 Abraham Lincoln, P.S. 86 The Irvington, P.S. 116 Elizabeth L Farrell and P.S. 145 Andrew Jackson, all in Brooklyn; and P.S. 64 Joseph P. Addabbo in Ozone Park, Queens.
P.S. 116 Elizabeth L. Farrell, one in every of 5 magnet colleges in Velázquez’s district. Picture courtesy of Google Maps
All 5 colleges serve college students who’re majority Hispanic or Asian, and have higher-than-average numbers of scholars dealing with financial hardship, in line with metropolis information. The 4 Brooklyn colleges had been chosen to develop into magnet colleges in 2022.
In a Nov. 17 letter to federal Division of Schooling secretary Linda E. McMahon and Workplace of Administration and Finances Director Russell Vought, Velázquez mentioned the grant cancellation undermined the DOE’s personal targets and will widen alternative gaps for magnet faculty college students.
“Your administration’s baseless cancellation of millions of grant funding in response to New York City policies that are inclusive and protective of students regardless of gender identity is not only reckless but discriminatory,” Velázquez wrote. “It demonstrates significant disregard for educating our country’s future leaders, and once again, your willingness to put your politics over the well-being of nearly 7,700 students attending the affected schools, five of which are … within my district.”
Velásquez slammed the cuts, and urged the administration to reinstate the funds instantly. File photograph by Todd Maisel
The MSAP program was created to assist the desegregation of public colleges, present equitable entry to top quality training, and create “innovative educational methods and practices,” per the U.S. Division of Schooling.
“In my district, magnet schools keep students engaged and help boost academic achievements, producing national chess champions, award-winning debaters, and accomplished dancers,” the congress member wrote. “The MSAP program has a proven track record of preparing students for success as they progress on the pathway to higher education.”
She urged the feds to reverse the cancellation “so that our city can continue to protect the civil rights of all students while providing quality education toall students to prepare them to enter the workforce and contribute meaningfully to our economy, culture, and civic life.”
Final month, New York Metropolis sued the federal DOE in an effort to get the grants reinstated.
NYC public colleges chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who mentioned the town will proceed to struggle to reinstate the remainder of the grant funds.Picture courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
Per court docket paperwork, federal officers up to now have discovered that the town’s MSAP tasks had been “entirely consistent with Title IX,” and that the Trump administration has a “fixation with upending the Department’s previously accepted interpretation of Title IX.”
The town additionally mentioned the grant cancellations had been carried out “unlawfully,” with out observing Title IX’s guidelines, and had been a “clear attempted end run around the Congressional directive that school funding not be pulled on a whim.”
On Nov. 20, the town and the U.S. DOE reached an settlement in federal court docket that enables NYCPS to make use of leftover grant funds — about $12 million — from Fiscal Yr 2025 for bills incurred in FY2026. The town will “continue to push to reach a final decision” on the grants for FY2026-28, mentioned colleges chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in an announcement.
