Federal education money and Minnesota: 4 questions

As the Trump administration presses for big cuts to the federal education bureaucracy, school leaders in districts across Minnesota say any disruption to funding will have serious implications for day-to-day services impacting the state’s most vulnerable K-12 students.

The federal government in recent days has moved to slash funding for the research arm of the U.S Department of Education, and President Trump has discussed dismantling the department altogether.

As the fight plays out in Washington, here’s a look at what’s happening and how it could affect Minnesota.

1) What’s at stake?

The federal government provides more than 10 percent of the spending to keep public schools running in Minnesota in districts from farm towns to cities. For Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, the feds provide about 20 percent, so it’s an especially big deal.

Statewide last school year, federal education spending totaled about $2.2 billion.

Much of that is targeted toward students who need more support. Think of it as money meant to help Minnesota’s most vulnerable kids — students with disabilities, students living in families facing food insecurity or struggling with other economic disadvantages.

2) How do Minnesota schools spend those federal dollars? 

The money helps pay for things like literacy and math tutors and teaching specialists skilled in reading intervention. It also pays for paraprofessionals who work with students who have disabilities. The feds also provide funds for teacher training, student laptops and school lunches. 

In the Lanesboro schools south of Rochester, federal money gets spent on teachers who help struggling students improve reading and math skills and on staff who help integrate special education students into classrooms. Money also goes to food and other services targeted at students from economically disadvantaged families.

“The portion that we're talking about … really focuses on our students that have some of the highest needs,” said Matt Schultz, Lanesboro’s superintendent.

In the Verndale district in central Minnesota, federal grant money targeted at rural schools gets spent on Chromebooks so all students have access to learning technology. Other federal money gets spent on teachers, food and special education staff. 

Verndale’s targeted a lot of federal money toward helping students improve their reading skills, and it’s paid off on improved performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment state exams, said Jeannie Mayer, the superintendent.

“We showed significant growth. In fact, we increased 11 percent on our MCAs and a lot of that has to do with catching our kids up in the elementary,” Mayer said.

Federal dollars in the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district helped pay for special education and also let the district focus on academics with the students who need it most, said Superintendent Christine Osorio.

“It’s very much about trying to help those who are not doing well,” Osorio said. “It’s really targeting that opportunity gap. The intent of the funds is to help students get to the academic standards at grade level.”

3) What happened this week?

The Trump administration moved to slash the U.S. Department of Education’s nonpartisan Institute of Education Sciences, canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. This is the unit responsible for studying things like research-backed teaching practices and nationwide student achievement in math and reading. 

It’s also involved in gathering data used to determine state and district eligibility and allocations for federal grants and other funding, so it’s tied to the flow of money. Some observers see it as a step by the Trump administration that will make it difficult for the government to fulfill the legal requirements involved in dispersing federal funds that go directly to classrooms.

In a Senate confirmation hearing this week, Trump’s pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, told lawmakers she wanted to “reinvest in teachers, not Washington bureaucrats.” 

McMahon has said she and Trump oppose defunding federal school programs, but there’s nothing on the table right now to explain how these programs will work going forward.

4) What comes next?

It’s not clear. Uncertainty, questions and confusion rule right now. Minnesota DFL lawmakers and the state Education Department have raised concerns about the lack of clarity, saying it makes it difficult for the state and local school districts to plan their budgets and programming. 

“This lack of clarity, along with other broad executive actions taken in recent days, puts key programs at risk by uprooting longstanding protections and supports students and schools depend on every day,” Minnesota Education Commissioner Willie Jett wrote in a letter last week to Minnesota schools and to Denise Carter, the acting U.S. education secretary.

“These actions have consequences on our rural communities, schools across the state, students from low-income families and those needing special education services — and they are avoidable,” Jett wrote. 

When he gets questions about where the federal money goes and what might happen if it doesn’t get disbursed, Schultz, the Lanesboro superintendent, says he keeps the focus on the kids he’s trying to help.

“All these stories are, human, right? These are people. These are kids. These are employees. That's one of the things with schools, right? We're a people business. So any changes, any adjustments to budget and things like that, impact people.”

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