Philly School District, others face cuts under proposed Trump budget

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has come under fire for proposing to slash funding to the Special Olympics. But her department’s budget contains other cuts that would affect school districts across the country, including Philadelphia’s.

The Philadelphia School District expects it will have to spend an extra $22.5 million starting in 2021 to make up for cuts in the proposed federal education budget. The district receives more than $100 million in federal grant funds each year, according to its chief financial officer, Uri Monson.

The federal money the district would lose under the Education Department’s proposal would go toward teacher professional development, “particularly around early literacy,” as well as music and foreign-language programs, Monson said. He said the district wouldn’t necessarily cut those programs but would fund them out of its operating budget — proposed to be more than $3.3 billion next year.

Money for teacher development under Title II has been targeted by the Trump administration in the past (as well as by Obama’s administration, although it didn’t propose ending it). The funding cut, along with others previously proposed to the education budget, hasn’t passed Congress.

Nor has the proposed axing of federal funds for the Special Olympics, which has drawn by far the most blowback of the administration’s education proposals. On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he would not cut Special Olympics funding, saying, “I have overridden my people.”

In total, the administration proposes to eliminate 29 education programs “that have achieved their original purpose, duplicate other programs, are narrowly focused, or are unable to demonstrate effectiveness,” including funding for after-school programs and literacy grants.

The budget would increase funding for charter schools. Outside of the education budget, the Trump administration also is pitching $5 billion in tax credits to fund scholarships to private schools.