With billions of dollars of federal education funding still on the table, experts predict that at least a dozen states will be severely impacted if Trump’s proposed cuts to K12 spending are put in place.
Last month, the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee voted 26-3 in favor of a bill rejecting the bulk of President Trump’s $4.5 billion cuts to K12 education. However, the budget bill doesn’t go into effect until Oct. 1, meaning there’s ample time for the full Senate and House to weigh in.
Looking ahead to the next several weeks, educational consultant Education Resource Strategies predicts that at least a dozen states will face significant challenges as a result of deep federal cuts to education. These states include: Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
These states in particular are most vulnerable due to their proportion of high-needs districts (more than 30%), the number of students attending such districts (greater than 20%) and their reliance on federal funding (states where federal funds make up more than 10% of total revenue).
Take Mississippi, for example, where its schools receive nearly $1 billion annually in federal funding. Three-quarters of the state’s districts serve large numbers of children living in poverty, and more than half of students attend one of these higher-need districts, according to Education Resource Strategies.
“This leaves Mississippi district leaders scrambling in scenarios like the recent funding freeze, when some simply spent the money anyway, hoping they would eventually be reimbursed,” the analysis reads.
Senator Cindy Hyder-Smith (R-Miss.) was also one of the 26 senators who voted in favor of the bill rejecting Trump’s cuts to federal funding for education. Ten out of the 12 most-at-risk states highlighted in Education Resource Strategies’ analysis have members on the Senate Appropriations Committee who also voted in favor of this new proposal.
Some other factors to consider ahead of the budget bill include:
- Many states will likely face further challenges due to enrollment decline, local economic conditions and the impact of other federal cuts (SNAP and Medicaid).
Some states may see conditions exacerbated. - Some states or districts may have more funding held in reserve, which can help leaders weather short-term disruptions.
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