Photo: Gov. Jared Polis discusses K-12 school funding with U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon at the National Governors Association meeting in Colorado Springs. (Delilah Brumer/Colorado Newsline)
This story by Delilah Brumer appeared on Colorado Newsline on July 25, 2025.
On Friday, July 25, Colorado Governor Jared Polis and U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon talked K-12 school funding and strategies for getting students workforce-ready during a panel with governors from across the country in Colorado Springs.
The panel was organized by the National Governors Association, which Polis currently chairs. The association convenes governors and their staff members, and serves as “a leading forum for bipartisan policy solutions.”
The panel discussion started shortly after the Trump administration said it plans to release about $5 billion in federal K-12 school funds that have been frozen for weeks. The initial move to withhold the funding, which is designated for teacher training, migrant education, English-language learning and other programs, left Colorado school districts scrambling.
About $80 million of the paused funds are earmarked for Colorado, and on July 14, state Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a lawsuit calling for their release.
“Many of us were very worried about several funds that our schools had expected,” Polis said. “We’re very pleased that you were able to announce earlier today that those funds have become unfrozen.”
Polis asked McMahon, “How can we prevent these kinds of communications gaps or discrepancies in the first place?”
McMahon attributed the pause to “the transition aspect” and “taking time to really review the funding, to look at all the programs, before they were released.” She added, “that was satisfied.”
As chair of the association, Polis led the yearlong “Let’s Get Ready” initiative, focusing on ways that state governments can improve educational outcomes through better data collection and school accountability. The initiative recommends that states measure and publish information about academic indicators like students’ reading and math levels, but also workforce preparedness, civic engagement and mental health.
“We need to be making sure that we are truly making progress for students,” Polis said. “We are measuring the metric of improving graduation rates, and we want to make sure that one way that states can do that is not simply to dumb down the standards and make it easier to graduate. If we are looking at improving math scores, we want to make sure the answer is not just making things easier.”
McMahon called for an increased focus on postsecondary pathways beyond four-year university degrees, including apprenticeships and trade school.
“It comes down to the curriculum, which is on the state and local level, and what courses are being taught,” McMahon said. “I’ve heard a couple of governors say today, ‘wouldn’t it be cool to get back to shop?’ We want to get back to some of those subjects that can be taught in school that have been eliminated, that go into the development of our workforce.”
McMahon emphasized “returning education to the states” to regulate. President Donald Trump has ordered for the closure of the Department of Education, and the department has undergone mass layoffs.
The National Governors Association meeting was scheduled to continue on Saturday, when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to speak.
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