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RCPS federal education funds restored after brief freeze

by | Aug 12, 2025

Students walk into Rappahannock County Elementary on the first day of school in August 2024. (File photo/Ireland Hayes)

Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) narrowly avoided a potential funding shortfall this summer when key federal education grants were temporarily frozen before being restored last month.

Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley said that while no major program cuts occurred, the district faced uncertainty over approximately $60,000 in Title II, III, and IV funding — funding sources for professional and teacher development, English language learner programs and student enrichment.

“These funds were already budgeted,” Grimsley wrote in an email. “So the freeze would have impacted critical support for both students and staff.”

Relief came in the form of a memo from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), announcing that the U.S. Department of Education had completed its review and would release over $98 million in funding to Virginia beginning the week of July 28. This includes Rappahannock schools’ share of Title I-C, II-A, III-A, IV-A, and Adult Education grants.

Grimsley said this has been the only disruption of federal funds for Rappahannock schools so far, but the district will continue to monitor changes that could impact Rappahannock.

“We are always concerned about funding cuts, whether they are state or federal,” Grimsley said. “We will continue to monitor all shifts at the federal level that impact our district.”

Author

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.