Lawmakers step in after Tacoma organization denied grants by Dept. of Education
TACOMA, Wash. – A Tacoma organization was denied federal funding after their three grant proposals were denied by the Department of Education.
The Metropolitan Development Council helps low-income, first-generation high school students pursue college education through Upward Bound, a federally-funded program.
In April, the MDC learned their three grant proposals were denied due to “exceeding the budget.”
“It was a surprise and disappointment,” said Tom McNair-Huff, Director of Communication for the MDC.
“We tried to add some schools to the application we were submitting this time, in an effort to make our grants more competitive. And in doing that we actually exceeded the budget," he said.
The MDC supports 238 students from the Tacoma, Franklin-Pierce, and Bethel school districts.
McNair-Huff said the MDC has applied for these federal grants every five years of their inception 25-years ago, and this is the first time they’ve been denied.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the MDC is just one of 44 institutions nationwide that were recently rejected.
Some proposals were denied due to double spacing, or improper margin width, or using the wrong font.
After news of these rejections surfaced, lawmakers stepped in.
Thirty-two U.S. Representatives, including Congressman Derek Kilmer of Washington, co-signed a letter to Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
“This wasn’t about the content of the request, the quality of the program,” Kilmer told KOMO News on Wednesday. “They were rejected entirely by bureaucratic reasons.”
DeVos responded recently saying from now on grants cannot be denied based on their formatting.
Neither McNair-Huff nor Congressman Kilmer know if the MDC’s grant proposal will be reconsidered.
By: Patrick Quinn
Source: KOMO News