BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – President-elect Donald Trump made sweeping promises on the campaign trail to make cuts at the U.S. Department of Education and give choices back to states. Vermont disburses about $100 million of federal grant programs annually, representing about 10 percent of districts’ funding. But experts say the loss of federal funding will affect the state disproportionately.
“Where you’re going to see the most effect will be in your lower income areas, because they get the most federal dollars,” said Evan Erdberg with Proximity Learning, a for-profit Texas company that specializes in offering online learning.
He says he’s watching the president-elect’s education policies closely, especially his threats to close the Department of Education. While he says getting rid of the department entirely is unlikely, that doesn’t rule out limiting federal funds. He says if that funding is cut, schools and communities will need to raise money in other ways. “Vermont as a state is going to need to increase funding for education in order to offset what the federal government takes away,” Erdberg said.
Carrie Lutz with the Colchester School District says most of their special education funding comes through state and local funding. “There is a federal grant that we receive. It’s about 10 percent of the overall cost of education, which comes from the federal government,” she said.
Trump also proposed several times on the campaign trail that he would ban certain diversity and inclusion education in schools.
Erin Maguire, the director of equity and inclusion at the Essex Westford School District says those could be hard to undo. “I think it’s important for people to remember that we have anti-discrimination laws on the books, we have civil rights laws on the books. Those are passed by Congress, those are passed by the Vermont Legislature and they can’t just be undone,” Maguire said.
Everyone we spoke to said the bigger changes the president-elect proposes might be met with some opposition and nothing is certain at this time.
