Potential Federal Funding Cuts Could Impact Local Educational Programs in Massachusetts
The $890 million cut nationwide would translate to the loss of three or four staff members in New Bedford, where the district receives about half a million dollars for these programs.
"It would be the federal government turning its back on the community," O‘Leary said.
Similar scenes are playing out across the state as school districts, higher education institutions, and education advocates grapple with the potential impact of billions in cuts proposed for federal funding streams ranging from schooling for migrant farmworkers and their children to programs that help high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds transition to college.
The president’s proposed budget is a wish list of sorts and is unlikely to be implemented as written. However, it emphasizes the priorities of the administration and reflects other federal actions already underway, such as the cutting in half of the Education Department workforce. Congress ultimately sets the budget, often via stopgap spending bills in recent years, but Republicans control the legislature and tend to be closely aligned with the president’s priorities.
Related: White House comes out with sharp spending cuts in Trump’s 2026 budget plan
As part of the roughly $12 billion proposed cut to the Education Department, the Trump proposal would eliminate a number of key funding streams, including Title III, the English language instruction money at issue in New Bedford. Other spending, such as on the Office for Civil Rights, would see partial cuts.
The two biggest federal sources of K-12 funds appear safe: Title I, which goes to schools serving low-income students, and IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which supports students with disabilities. Each would be consolidated with related funding streams into simpler single grants.
The White House Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s budget. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the budget reflects her mandate to be the last to hold her position.
“The President’s Skinny Budget reflects funding levels for an agency that is responsibly winding down, shifting some responsibilities to the states, and thoughtfully preparing a plan to delegate other critical functions to more appropriate entities,” McMahon said. “It supports the President’s vision of expanding school choice and ensuring every American has access to an excellent education.”
The only type of federal education spending that would get a boost is charter schools, with Trump proposing a $60 million boost to $500 million in annual spending to help start and expand charter schools. Tim Nicolette, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, said he expects the proposal to get bipartisan support.
“Ultimately, these funds will support high-quality educational options for children and families across the country as well as the two-way sharing of proven practices between charter and district public schools,” Nicolette said.
The second largest education cut would be to TRIO and GEAR UP programs — federal grants that support low-income and first-generation students in getting ready for college.
TRIO-funded programs, which help students navigate academic and financial barriers, have had bipartisan support in Congress, said Michael Dennehy, executive director for college access and student success at BU’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
“I’m hopeful that our supporters in Congress will stand by these programs because they are really important and they make a difference,” he said.
Across three programs, BU serves 1,036 students annually with around $1.2 million in TRIO and GEAR UP grants.
Another program that would be wiped out is Migrant Education, which educates migratory farm and fishery workers and their children, including American citizens, and serves about 600 to 700 students each year in districts across Massachusetts.
Emily Hoffman, who leads the Massachusetts program housed at the Northampton-based Collaborative for Educational Services, said her program depends entirely on federal funds. Their role is to ensure migratory students get needed educational services, including by directly providing language classes, transporting students, hiring English language support for districts, and helping students find other opportunities.
“If this money goes away, we no longer exist,” she said. “Our program is very valuable.”
Related: Will Trump administration overhaul how states get funding for low-income and special needs students?
Hoffman said she is not too worried about the budget proposal, as Migrant Education funding is part of the bedrock federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the whole act would have to be reauthorized to change the funding formula.
“I have a hard time thinking that would happen,” she said. “There’s a little bit more buffer of protection.”
Still, Hoffman has other reasons to be worried, she said. Heightened immigration enforcement means families are afraid to meet with her staff and fill out paperwork, she said. Some don’t want their children to leave the home, while others are sending them back to their home countries.
“I am concerned [about] other efforts and policies that impact our ability to identify and recruit people,” Hoffman said.
Elsewhere in the state, the English language acquisition funding on the line in New Bedford is producing similar concerns. Chelsea Public Schools, for example, gets about $500,000 to help educate thousands of English learner students. Losing those funds would require substantial cuts, Superintendent Almudena Abeyta said, especially after she already had to close a $1.3 million budget hole for next year.
“At this point, I would have to start cutting staff at schools, which I don’t want to do,” she said. “I try to stay away from cutting direct services to children.”
In New Bedford, the lead ESL teacher was a newcomer herself after her family moved to the area from Cape Verde when she was 12 years old.
Ivone Spencer credits her multilanguage skills, acquired through the district’s language programs, for her career in education.
Immigrant children like Spencer enrich the experience of all students, said Ellyn Gallant-Bland, principal of Alfred J. Gomes Elementary School.
“Being bilingual, biliterate, or multilingual is such a beautiful gift. We’re just trying to foster that the best we can,” Gallant-Bland said.
In the proposed budget, the Trump administration wrote the English language acquisition program “deemphasizes English primacy by funding NGOs and States to encourage bilingualism.”
Superintendent O‘Leary said that characterization is incorrect.
“Bilingualism does not undermine English language acquisition. It actually enhances it,” O‘Leary said. “It actually supports early literacy instruction.”
No matter what, O‘Leary said, the state’s and district’s commitment to multilingual students wouldn’t go away.
“What’s going away is the partnership with the federal government,” he said.