As the Trump administration pursues seismic changes to federal education spending, Wisconsin school officials warn that Milwaukee Public Schools and other school districts with higher proportions of students living in poverty will be hit hardest.
Within the last several weeks, the administration has halved the federal education workforce, dismantled the U.S. Department of Education and threatened to cut funding to schools with diversity initiatives.
Wisconsin education officials are unraveling the way cuts will impact school budgets, staffing and programs, but moving forward, they don’t yet know exactly how much of the $842 million in federal funding that Wisconsin schools received this year will eventually be cut.
But they warn it’s all at risk. And that school districts which are already struggling will be impacted the most, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Interim Communications Director Chris Bucher said.
This is because those districts have the most to lose; a significant portion of federal education funding supports districts with higher proportions of economically disadvantaged families and students, Bucher said.
Milwaukee Public Schools is one of those districts: a fifth of the school system’s funding ― about $195 million, more than any other district in the state ― comes from the federal government, which equates to pay for 1,640 full time educators, according to DPI data.
But it’s not just MPS and other struggling school districts that could face cuts. Every district within the Milwaukee area receives between 2% and 20% of its funding from the U.S. departments of Education and Agriculture, according to DPI data.
But how much money do different districts get from the federal government? Why do some rely on more federal help than others? How much of that funding is at risk of disappearing? What programs would the cuts affect?
Read on for insight into what officials do know and how much of your school district’s funding comes from the federal government:
Wisconsin’s DPI warns of impact that federal funding cuts will have on schools
Bucher said guidance from the federal government has attempted to placate concerns that funding won’t come through moving forward.
After all, there’s been no official directive yet to cut the federal funding to Wisconsin schools which is critical to low-income and vulnerable student populations.
Instead, Bucher said, the Trump administration is threatening to revoke that money in 10 days if state education agencies can’t certify that their schools don’t engage in practices that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“It would be stupid to assume that the funding is safe because of what we’ve seen out of the federal government, which is operating as though all funding is on the table to be cut.”
As a result, the DPI is operating as though everything is indeed on the table, Bucher said.
“It’s all at risk. It’s all in jeopardy.”
Funding for mental health, students with disabilities and school lunches are at risk
Statewide, cuts to the U.S. departments of Education and Agriculture jeopardize $842 million in federal funds, equivalent to 8% of school funding in Wisconsin and equating to over 6,100 educator jobs, according to DPI data.
That money goes to a variety of programs: support for students with disabilities, youth mental health programs, English language learning classes, smaller class sizes and support for economically disadvantaged families and students.
The funding also pays for initiatives like access to school meals, career guidance, technical education and Head Start early learning programs.
School districts that rely most on federal funds have more families in poverty
The schools struggling at the bottom of the achievement and resource gaps are most reliant on federal education funding and would be hardest hit by cuts, Bucher said.
They obtain this funding through the Title 1 formula, part of the Every Student Succeeds Act passed in 2015, which identifies which districts across the nation higher populations of economically disadvantaged families and students.
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Schools receives the highest percentage of its funding from the federal government. Around 81% of students in the school system, or 53,000 children, are from economically disadvantaged families, according to DPI data.
A spokesperson with Milwaukee Public Schools has not yet responded to a list of questions on how cuts would impact local schools sent by the Journal Sentinel on Thursday.
Bucher urged those concerned about the way cuts would impact Wisconsin schools to reach out to their federal legislators, as well as to state legislators currently negotiating education spending for the state’s next budget cycle.
How much funding do Milwaukee-area school districts get from the federal government?
The following table and graph show how much Milwaukee-area school districts rely on federal funding ― and how much is jeopardized by cuts, according to DPI data. Check out this story to learn more about the statewide school districts that receive the most federal money.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How much federal funding is at risk in Milwaukee-area school districts?