Trump tries to slash funding for public education
- On This Day In The Trump Administration
- Jun 6, 2024
- 2 min read
June 7: On This Day In 2017
Even before Trump was elected, one of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries had vowed to abolish the Dept. of Education entirely.
Trump proved unsuccessful at actually eliminating the department during his four years. But, Trump and his team did manage to severely crimp their ability to serve our nation’s children.
His attacks began quite soon after taking office. In his first budget request, right out of the gate, Trump asked Congress to slash the Department of Education’s funding by more than 13%.
Even Republican senators were horrified by the proposed cuts, as Roll Call reported OTDI 2017:
Senate Appropriations Chair Thad Cochran (R-MS) scolded the Administration: “There are federal programs that… need to be on the front burner… that help us teach our children.” Some of the cuts Trump wanted would have affected before- and after-school programs, literacy grants, and even grants to help college students earn graduate degrees.
And as Roy Blunt (R-MO) summarized, “The kinds of cuts that are proposed in this budget will not occur.”
But opposition from even his own party couldn’t stop Donald Trump! He asked for a 5% cut in 2019, and yet another 8% cut for 2021.
Again, along comes Biden to undo the damage: When he won the presidency, Biden requested a budget which boosted funding for the Dept. of Education by 20%.
As US News reported “President Joe Biden's budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year would more than double funding for the federal K-12 program that supports school districts serving lots of poor students – an aggressive funding pitch that would represent the most significant investment in the country's public education system since the program was enacted under the Johnson administration more than half a century ago.”
These wildly different Trump and Biden attitudes: Just something to keep in mind if you hear that the American public education system has been hurting.
Dive Deeper
Roll Call details the GOP's unique opposition to Trump
K-12Dive covers the four years
EdWeek tells about Biden’s requested increase
US News reviews Biden’s planed spending boosts
Summary: Trump tries to slash funding for public education