TEA staff say federal grant freeze was short-lived; Perkins reports submitted

Vice President April White told the Kansas Postsecondary Technical Education Authority on Jan. 30 that federal grant payments were briefly paused and that agency staff moved quickly to protect grantees and complete required reports.

White said the agency received notice “about 10:00” on Tuesday that “all federal grants were basically frozen,” and staff asked Perkins and adult education grantees to submit reimbursement requests by 2 p.m. the same day so the agency could draw down funds before the federal shutdown took effect. “We gave them very, very short time,” White said. She said the pause was rescinded the next day at noon, and, “business as usual, as far as we know.”

The abrupt notice prompted concern among colleges and nonprofit providers, White said. She credited agency finance staff and program leads for working through the weekend and stated, “That was an unpleasant couple of days… the grantees were scared.” Director-level staff Vera and others stayed late to submit the Perkins consolidated annual report; White reported no errors in that submission so far.

White also reviewed other workforce-development items scheduled or due soon: adult education provider applications are due the following day and represent five-year agreements; a virtual healthcare day was in progress with agency representation; and the agency website domain has been moved to a .gov address to comply with recent legislative direction.

The agency will continue to monitor federal guidance, White said, and reminded colleges and providers that “we will continue as we need to, as and to respond to any changes that come down the pipe.”

Ending: Agency staff said they will follow up with grantees if additional federal guidance arrives and that stakeholders should rely on current reimbursements and program schedules absent further federal direction.