Federal education cuts hit WA schools hard
Millions of dollars hang in the balance for Washington schools and students after the Trump administration abruptly withheld almost $7 billion from public schools Tuesday.
The move has thrown after-school care, professional learning for teachers and programming for English language learners into limbo across the country.
It’s a curveball school officials didn’t see coming.
“That is definitely stunning to all 50 states,” Washington’s schools chief, Chris Reykdal, said in an interview Wednesday. “We’ve obviously been in contact with lots of folks, and it’s unlike any level of chaos or common sense we’ve seen so far.”
National attention is on Congress’ next move. But Reykdal said that while schools anticipated big cuts to many programs in the pending federal budget, the administration’s sudden pause of funding — money approved by Congress and the president in the spring — surprised everyone.
Reykdal warned Tuesday that the potential loss of the $137 million that the administration has put under review could put more Washington districts into “extreme” financial distress. Seven are already in binding conditions, meaning they are under strict oversight from the state.
In Seattle Public Schools, staff who work with students who are truant or at risk of dropping out and help teachers work with English learners could be affected if the funds are not restored.
The district could lose $4 million if the funds remain frozen, Kurt Buttleman, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance, said Wednesday.
The grants pay for professional development, English language learner support and family-support services. They cover between 15 and 20 full-time equivalent positions, he said.
Buttleman said the positions and services will not necessarily disappear if the money goes away. “We have to go back and look at the board’s and the district’s priorities and then prioritize these accordingly with all the other things … at Seattle Public Schools,” Buttleman said.
The district will continue to work on ways to get more money, including working with nonprofits, to help address funding losses, he said.
In Yakima, Superintendent Trevor Greene termed the freeze “unfortunate,” saying the district could lose nearly $3.8 million if it remains in place.
“It just exacerbates the issues of how we underserve students who are in most need, and it destroys any hope of equitable services across every system in the state because we’re all facing the same lack of funding and lack of personnel,” he said. “And then it happens on top with the federal decisions that we are seeing in play.”
The supports have helped to boost the graduation rate for migrant students, which was higher than the district’s overall graduation rate in 2022-23 and close to the district’s in 2023-24, said district administrators.
Administrators for both SPS and Yakima said the federal pause won’t affect this summer’s programs.
Reykdal said it’s still possible that states could get the money, but the uncertainty is a no-win situation for districts.
“Give us the money, or tell us we’re not going to have the money, so we can plan for it,” he said, “But the ‘You may get it, or you may not’ means we’re making hard decisions now in local school districts across the country.”
And as schools grapple with the sudden shift and the likely need to make cuts in its wake, they know more cuts may be coming as lawmakers on Capitol Hill duke it out over the“big, beautiful bill.” The U.S. Senate passed its version Tuesday, and the legislation was back in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Higher education
The budget bill’s passage could help some Washington students pursuing higher education degrees or technical programs, and hurt others.
The version of the bill that the Senate approved Tuesday would expand the ability for Pell Grants to be spent on technical programs, said Michael Meotti, executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Council, a state agency focused on boosting educational attainment.
However, the House version could make Pell “much more hostile to part-time students,” Meotti said. “We estimate there are about 16,000 Washington students who could lose their Pell Grants.”
Choi Halladay, deputy executive director of business operations at the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, said the Lifetime Learning Credit — a tuition tax credit — previously could be accessed by someone without a Social Security Number. If the bill passes, the number will be required.
“This would have an impact especially on states like Washington that have had policies that allow for ‘Dreamers’ to be part of our student base,” Halladay said. “Dreamers” are young undocumented immigrants.
Another provision in the bill subtracts Pell Grant money from other sources of student aid. For example, if a student gets a Rotary scholarship for $1,000, their Pell Grant would be reduced by $1,000, Halladay said.
“That stacking of Pell with private and state sources has always been one of the main methodologies our students have used to afford college because so many of them are working adults that are trying to raise a family and do all of these other day-to-day life activities at the same time they are going to college,” Halladay said.
Portions of both the Senate and House versions of the bill could change the process for people paying back their student loans. The bill could cap the amount of loan payments based on a student’s income level, Halladay said. Other provisions in the bill could change the rules for when a student can apply for a pause in their payments if their income falls below a certain amount.
Medicaid and SNAP
The federal budget is expected to slash enrollment in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, changes that could have ripple effects through every level of Washington education, from preschool to college.
“We know that students’ abilities to actually pursue a college or technical program is frequently difficult for people based on if they can make ends meet while studying,” said Meotti, of the state Student Achievement Council. “The negative impacts on Medicaid and SNAP, those changes that don’t appear to be educational changes, will probably cause students to drop out because they are helping make their families’ budgets work.”
Nearly 2 million Washingtonians are on Medicaid. The legislation would require many adults to work to qualify for coverage.
About 47% of kids in Washington are covered by Medicaid, known here as Apple Health, according to the Statewide Poverty Action Network, and they could see benefits cut under Congress’ proposal.
Nationally, 87% of children enrolled in Head Start are on Medicaid, said Joel Ryan, executive director of Washington’s Head Start advocacy organization. In Washington, 12% of Head Start kids have chronic conditions like asthma, he said.
“Any cuts to health care can really be devastating for these families,” Ryan said.
In addition, half of Head Start families rely on SNAP, better known as food stamps, Ryan said.
“If there are cuts to the SNAP program, we’re going to see a lot more hungry families,” he said.
Mental health
In 2021, state auditors found that Washington’s decentralized approach to students’ mental health meant students had “uneven” access to assistance.
Congress has attempted to fight violence in schools by amping up funds for mental health care for students.
The Trump administration has discontinued grant funding under those federal programs, including projects in Washington, according to a lawsuit brought late Monday by state Attorney General Nick Brown and 15 other state attorneys general.
Educational Service District 189 serves five counties and 35 school districts in the northwest of the state, including islands and remote communities in the foothills of the Cascades and near the U.S. border with Canada.
The district said in its application for a grant that 40% of its schools couldn’t access mental health services for students due to hurdles such as geographic isolation, according to the lawsuit. Since the grant began in 2023, the district has hired 19 new mental health professionals and decreased the ratio of students to mental health workers by 60%.
The Workforce for Student Well-Being Initiative, another recipient of federal grant money mentioned in the lawsuit, pays for competitive scholarships for graduate students who demonstrate financial need at six schools of social work across Washington. They must work in a high-need school district for at least two years after graduation.
The initiative has trained 37 graduate students, said Jennifer Stuber, associate professor at the University of Washington in the School of Social Work, who is the principal investigator on the initiative.
But the program is now in a state of limbo, Stuber said. They would like to recruit their third cohort, and have some funding to do that, but the funding cuts off in the middle of the academic year.
“We have a lot of interest from people coming from underserved communities to do this work in underserved communities,” she said. “We have a very, very high caliber of people who are really saying they’re benefiting from the skills training.”
Reporting from The Associated Press was included in this report.