By Theo Meranze
Two days ago the Trump Administration announced it was freezing hundreds of millions of dollars of Congress approved federal funding for school districts around the country. The programs affected, such as summer programs, English language instruction programs, and adult literacy programs, have been thrown into disarray as the administration conducts a review to “ensure grants are aligned with President Trump’s priorities.” California schools are owed close to $811 million according to the Learning Policy Institute. Nationwide, the grants amount to close to $6.2 billion for K-12 schools. Schools were planning on receiving the money this week.
In California particularly, the effects of this aggressive move are being felt immediately. In a state such as ours with a large ESL population there are a disproportionate amount of schools left with no alternative plan. Some are already cancelling professional development events for teachers and summer programs.
I personally called the CDE and was told by an employee that IDEA and Title 1 funding is still being granted. CDE states that special education will not be affected in the same capacity, at least directly. Still, there is no doubt that it will be affected inadvertently. Teacher training is being affected. After school and ESL programs that host and help disabled students will be affected– even cancelled in their entirety.
According to CalMatters “Among the programs that didn’t receive funding is the 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, which provide about $146.6 million to California schools and community organizations for after-school programs. The state provides the bulk of after-school funding, but 21st Century grants are the primary source of money for middle and high schools. The money pays for tutoring, snacks, field trips, enrichment activities and other investments intended to help students stay on track academically while gaining social skills and having fun.” This will surely affect students with disabilities.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has announced that the state is considering several options, including suing the Trump administration. This has occurred several times already, such as in the case of Trump’s threats to withhold funding for DEI initiatives. He has however encouraged schools to “find resources to keep summer programs running, in hopes of a resolution soon.” It is likely that this freezing of funding will be blocked in court.
Still, the reality is that schools have been left in a state of uncertainty that will have reverberating effects for quite some time. Programs may be fully cancelled due to a present inability to fund them, plans for the year will be irreparably changed, etc. We will have to wait and see how they attempt to subsidize these programs while in this limbo, and hope for the best. If you are concerned, you can reach out to your specific school to see how they are preparing to accommodate and withstand this hopefully brief period of uncertainty.
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