Recent changes to the Department of Education could affect some schools in our area after the Supreme Court lifted a pause earlier this week on the Trump administration’s efforts to lay off hundreds of employees within the department.
Affected workers have reportedly been on administrative leave for several months while the court worked to make a decision.
“Real people will lose real jobs, and real children will not get educated,” says JC Bowman with Professional Educators of Tennessee in a recent interview with WTVC-TV.
“English and language learners, teacher training. Title II, you had before and after school programs or century grants. You had academic enrichment, and then migrant education. So those are things that are impacted specifically.”
“I think eventually most of the money will, in fact, end up coming back to the state, but I’m not certain all of it will, and the fact that they stopped it right here when we’re starting school back is going to halt programs right in their tracks,” Bowman says.
Officials with Grundy County Schools say that one of their Pre-K classes will be eliminated next year because of the uncertainty.
Nearby Hamilton County Schools say they are at risk of losing $4.1 million that funds targeted services such as academic intervention (tutoring), teacher professional learning, and support for English learners; however, Hamilton along with other districts in our area say they say the don’t anticipate losing positions because of the frozen funds for now.
The office of management and budget told ABC News that many of the programs involved in the freeze “grossly misused” government funds to promote a “radical left-wing agenda.”
Education Department officials say they remain committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities.
