(WASHINGTON) -- The Trump administration has unfrozen more than a billion dollars for critical after-school and summer education programming, a senior administration official told ABC News.
A pause on the funding happened on July 1 -- so for the last 18 days, school districts and programs have been concerned that programs and staff could be eliminated if funding wasn't restored.
"The programmatic review is over for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC)," the senior administration official said. "Funds will be released to the states. Guardrails have been put in place to ensure these funds are not used in violation of Executive Orders," the official said in a statement to ABC News.
The official did not provide further details on the "guardrails" for the program. 21st Century Community Learning Centers -- the chief federal funding stream for after-school and summer-learning programs -- supports more than 10,000 local programs serving more than 1 million children nationwide. Congress appropriated $1.329 billion for the programs this fiscal year.
Despite being relieved by this decision, Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant said the 18-day delay and uncertainty for the funding unfreeze caused real harm to impacted students and programs.
"While we are thrilled the funds will be made available and thank the bipartisan lawmakers and the state attorneys general who fought for their release, the administration's inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm, with summer learning programs abruptly shutting down and a large number of afterschool programs cancelling plans to open in the fall," Grant wrote in a statement. "Those programs have now fallen behind on hiring, outreach, contracting, and other work needed to fulfill their essential mission to keep students safe, inspire them to learn, and give working parents peace of mind that their kids will be safe and supervised when schools are out."
The Office of Management and Budget did not indicate whether it would be unfreezing the rest of the roughly $6 billion in federal funds for programs such as English language acquisition, educator development and adult education, among others. A spokesman for OMB told ABC News that many of the programs "grossly misused" government funds to promote a "radical leftwing agenda." The funds are still under a programmatic review.
The news comes just days after 10 Republican senators urged OMB Director Russ Vought to reverse the decision to withhold this funding for education programs already appropriated by Congress.
Led by Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the senators' letter said the decision to pause this funding was "contrary to President Trump's goal of returning K-12 education to the states."
In a new statement, the West Virginia Republican said lifting the pause will help students in her state and across the country thrive.
"21st Century Community Learning Centers offer important services that many West Virginians rely on," Moore Capito wrote in a statement. "This program supports states in providing quality after-school and summer learning programs for students while enabling their parents to work and contribute to local economies. We should be supporting education opportunities like these."
Taking a victory lap, Moore Capito said the senators' rare rebuke of Trump's education policies prompted the actions by OMB, calling it "big news!"
"@RussVought45 just informed me that the @usedgov is releasing crucial funds to states that support after school and summer education programs," Capito wrote in a post on X.
"This is in direct response to a letter I led my @SenateGOP colleagues on earlier this week!"
Meanwhile, 24 Democratic states and D.C. sued Trump this week over the administration's education funding freeze, contending it was against the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 -- says Congress must consider and review executive branch withholdings of budget authority.
Several state education leaders who spoke to ABC News say that they're scrambling to prevent immediate harm to students as the school year approaches. OMB has not given a timeline on when the programmatic review for the other education programs will be completed.
Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said she fears for the future of education in her state and the entire country.
"These are dollars that were appropriated by Congress, and this hurts kids," Infante-Green told ABC News, adding "There's going to be a direct impact in every single school in our nation. And I think people forget that."
Reacting to the news, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield told ABC News that restoring the after-school and summer learning funding will be a "point of celebration" in Idaho. The state receives about $6 million from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, according to Critchfield. Still, she said there's anxiety among educators across Idaho as the remaining funding is paused.
"I think for our school leaders right now, the focus on a timeline is really what we have been talking about," Critchfield told ABC News.
"Are we talking about a delay? Are we talking about an elimination? When will that information be available?"