(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

U.S. senators who put pressure on the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Education were joined by millions of Americans in a sigh of relief when the remaining $5 billion in federal education funding the government was withholding from states and local school districts was released last week.

Those entities should have received their funding — which had already been approved as part of the fiscal year 2025 continuing resolution in March — July 1. But instead of much needed financial support, they got nearly a month of worry.

U.S. Sens. Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito, both R-W.Va., were among the t10 who wrote a letter July 16 asking for the release of funds. What they got was a little tease of $1.3 billion disbursed by the Office of Management and Budget and the Education Department for after-school and summer programs. It was the federal government’s way of saying “Sure, we CAN release this money any time we want to. We just don’t want to.”

“Promising to protect West Virginians’ best interests is why I was elected, and results like this show what can happen when you work in good faith with others across government and put people over politics,” Justice said. “The release of these funds will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the kids of West Virginia, and I’ll continue to advocate with Senator Capito for the best possible outcomes when problems like this arise.”

There are a couple of problems with that statement, though Justice was likely trying to make the best of a lousy situation.

First, it is laughable to suggest this is about people over politics, when the stated aim of the federal government’s delay was to ensure the supported programs did not do anything to promote what they might label left-wing ideology. And second, it is disingenuous to brand what has happened as having a “positive” impact when what it does is avoid a potentially disastrous negative impact for our kids. The “impact” is that the federal government did not do what school officials feared it might.

Savvy lawmakers know that. Surely they are getting tired of this game. If the idea is to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars by rooting out fraud, waste and abuse, do that. Please. If, instead, the idea is to play politics on a gigantic scale, Justice, Capito, U.S. Reps. Riley Moore, R-W.Va. 2nd and Carol Miller, R-W.Va. 1st, owe it to Mountain State residents to remind us whose team they are on.