Doing the math: Funding fears for education

The U.S. Education Department is now evaluating state plans, submitted earlier this year, which would change the way public schools are held accountable for the federal money they receive to educate children.

This is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, and those plans will be approved and implemented in the upcoming school year.

Dr. Dan Domenech, an advocate for public schools tells 47 ABC the new law gives states more flexibility, and moves away from rigid high stakes testing. 

Despite this, Dr. Domenech says there is a lot of uncertainty in public education because of President Donald Trump's 2018 Budget, specifically how it addresses federal funding for education, "This cannot happen..this will disrupt and destroy our communities."

The America First budget proposes more than $9 billion in cuts.  Thats about a 13 percent reduction.

Although these are proposed cuts for the 2018- 2019 school year, Domenech says this is a problem that needs to be addressed now, especially because the Every Student Succeeds Act goes into effect this year.
 
The act aims to improve how students learn and succeed by changing the way they're assessed.  "How in the world are we going to be able to implement the new law with that kind of a cut?" asked Domenech.

Trump's "America First" budget proposes saving $1.2 billion by eliminating the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program which supports before school, after school and summer programs. The document shows the following reason for the cut, "The programs lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement."

But Dr. John Quinn, Chief Academic Officer for Worcester County Public Schools, disagrees. He tells 47 ABC the district has seen success because of the 21st century grant programs. Half of the district's 14 schools participate. Pocomoke Elementary School is one of them. Just this year, it was named a Nationally Distinguished Title 1 school. That means it's one out of about one hundred schools throughout the country recognized for exceptional student achievement in 2016.

Dr. Quinn says the 21st century grant programs helped them get there, not only by providing extra-curricular enrichment, but also intervention time for students who might be struggling. He tells 47 ABC it's also a lifeline for parents who are struggling to make ends meet, because the programs provide extra meals, before and after school, as well as during the summer.
 
77 percent of the students at PES qualify for free and reduced meals. That's the highest number of any school in the district.

"So, how do we maintain the really healthy programs, after school programs, which we know do so much for our students?" asked Dr. Quinn. "If this funding source would be eliminated, we would suddenly be faced with a dire need as to how can we keep this going."

Dr. Donna Hanlin, Superintendent of Wicomico County Public Schools, reports similar concerns. 12 of the 24 schools in Wicomico benefit from the 21st century grant programs…six elementary, three middle, and three high schools.

"That's supporting what they're doing in education but also giving them a safe environment after school," explains Dr. Hanlin, "something to do after school.  So, yes, it's both academic and social and emotional needs.

"First of all, we hope that there's enough push-back that that won't happen, but secondly, we would be looking at how could we re-deploy resources in order to continue to meet the needs of our highest needs population."

Dr. Domenech adds, "You barely have the money to provide for these kids today.  Now you don't have the money to provide for them at all.  So what's going to happen to these kids?"

Grant money set aside for training teachers is also at risk.  According to the White House budget proposal, the $2.4 billion Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program will be eliminated because it is "poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact."

Both Drs. Hanlin and Quinn says the federal funding is an important supplement to the local funding that helps teachers stay up to date on quickly changing technology as well as new education standards.

"My hope," said Dr. Quinn in response to the programs being on the chopping block, "is that our legislature does whatever it can to keep these drastic cuts that are proposed, from happening."

The contribution of the federal government to education, when you break it down, is on average about 8 percent of the education budget. It's the state and localities that bear the burden of paying for education.
 
For example, in Wicomico County for this current school year, the state of Maryland provided the bulk of the district's education budget, at 70.34 percent. The county provides 21.08 percent. Federal funding accounts for 6.76 percent. And other funding sources make up the remaining 1.82 percent.

"It does impact us," says Dr. Hanlin of the federal funding, "even though it's a small percentage of our budget."

And Dr. Domenech adds, if local school districts don't have the money that federal dollar is worth much more, "You have school systems that 58 percent of their funding comes from the federal government. That's a lot of money.  So you're going to cut them 13 percent? That's huge for a system that is poor. That's the inequity in public education that's hurting us, and preventing us, from moving forward as we should be."

For Delaware, the funding fears are more about state money rather than federal. Currently, the state provides 34 percent of the education budget.

However, as 47 ABC previously reported earlier this year, the state's budget deficit is close to $400 million dollars. Governor John Carney stressed during a tele-town hall in late April that, in order to slash the deficit while maintaining economic viability, everyone in the state will have to make a sacrifice. Carney addressed the state's inability to increase funding for education to keep up with the growing youth population.

By the end of June, Gov. Carney pledged to balance the budget. The Governor suggested cutting education administrative jobs as a way to save money.

Delaware's Secretary of Education, Dr. Susan Bunting, admits many are concerned what this will mean for education overall, "The possible changes, I think, will occur by taking a hard look at every expenditure, line item, that we have, and truly accessing 'are we getting our money's worth' from this particular investment. That's easier to do with programs than it is with personnel, but we have to take a very close look at every dollar that's being invested in our students and make the wisest decisions for the use of that money."

"Communities need to let their representatives know, particularly in those impoverished areas, 'Are you kidding?" What's going to happen to our schools when we lose all of this money?" Dr. Domenech tells 47 ABC. "When superintendents, and school board members, and teachers when they go to their representatives and say, 'Do you realize the impact that this will have on our children?  This is what's going to happen.' that those representatives will come back and say, 'No, that's not going to happen. Those cuts cannot be made."

While Trump proposed big cuts for public education, he announced significant investments in School Choice options.  In the third part of our Special Report: State of Education, 47 ABC explores the different options in the school choice movement, and how much money the Trump Administration is willing to invest in it.