Pennsylvania schools face mounting pressure as President Donald Trump continues to make good on his campaign promise to overhaul American education.
The president took additional steps toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education by firing nearly half the agency’s staff last week.
This follows moves to freeze funding for education research, ban diversity and equity initiatives, and threaten to pull federal funding from schools and universities that don't fall in line.
Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-Swissvale) told WESA this week that it will be difficult for the department to function without the more than 1,300 workers placed on administrative leave.
“We're talking about people who ensure that student loan borrowers are able to access information or to get help as they're navigating what is just an incredibly difficult process,” said Lee, who sits on the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce.
“We're talking about people who work in departments like the Office of Civil Rights, that ensure that school districts are not discriminating against children,” she continued. “Children from marginalized backgrounds, children from poor working class backgrounds, kids with disabilities — those are support structures that are for those kids.”
During the 2020-2021 school year, federal funding accounted for 8.2% — or $3.2 billion — of all K-12 education dollars in Pennsylvania. Of that funding, $630.6 million went to the commonwealth’s poorest students through a funding pot known as Title I.
Another $467.8 million was set aside through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provides funding for students receiving special education services.
During her confirmation hearing, Education Secretary Linda McMahon told lawmakers that those funding streams are considered separate from the Department of Education.
But school leaders and state education officials have raised concerns about how that funding would be maintained if the agency is dismantled.
“There are worries that the lack of those critical fundings, or just the dismantling of the department piecemeal, is going to impede the government's ability to do oversight, to ensure that we have federal standards for education,” Lee said.
Last month, the congresswoman authored a letter signed by dozens of Democrats calling on federal officials to rescind the funding threats for schools with diversity programs. She also led calls earlier this month for a House committee investigation into the federal cuts to the Department of Education overseen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“We already have schools that are going up against so much to educate students appropriately,” Lee said. “To add this on top, to say you also have to now dismantle all of your abilities to ensure that you're doing it right, that you're not discriminating…To add that burden onto school districts or threaten their funding is cruel.”
“You don't just flip a switch”
Lee said that while school districts must fortify themselves in the face of such upheaval, cuts to public education funding will not go down without a fight.
The country’s two major teachers unions — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) — have both filed federal lawsuits challenging President Trump’s threats to withhold funding from schools with “race-based practices.”
In Pittsburgh, union members participated in a nationwide day of action under the AFT by sending thousands of letters to the region’s congressional delegation urging action.
But with the lawsuits pending and little clarity about the administration’s orders, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers president Billy Hileman said members are taking a wait-and-see approach.
“[Our teachers] are committed to what they have learned and developed as human beings to become educated experts in their field,” Hileman said. “And when you're that person, you don't just flip a switch.”
Meanwhile, leaders from several Pennsylvania school districts took their concerns to Washington last week alongside the Pennsylvania Principals Association.
Michael Allison, a former Hopewell Area School District principal, said school leaders met with lawmakers to stress the importance of protecting Title I funding for low-income students, Title II funding for educator recruitment and retention, Title IV academic enrichment grants and funding for career and technical education.
“There are pathways in place right now to get that money into the states and the schools,” Allison said. “And there is fear because we don't know what's ahead and we don't know what that process is going to be like.”
Reworking language over rescinding policies
Local leaders and university faculty are also asking their institutions to resist “preemptively” complying with the executive orders to disband diversity and inclusion initiatives while court challenges leave their fate in the lurch.
“Nothing yet has been taken away, but people are making decisions out of fear,” said Kyaien Conner, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center on Race and Social Problems.
Conner said Pitt faculty members are working with students to strategize solutions to the funding and DEI threats, but many questions remain about their impact.
“We have no laws demanding us to shut down anything right now,” she said. “And so we're trying to be strategic…We're doing everything that we can to figure out where are there places where a word is just a word and it's less important than the content behind that.”
Advocates with Pittsburgh’s Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) are taking a similar approach. CEO Tim Stevens said at a press conference Monday that the organization is reworking its DEI Playbook, a framework for businesses and groups looking to strengthen their diversity practices, in light of the recent political climate.
Stevens said the group altered the playbook’s language to remove mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion, though the strategies featured remain rooted in equity.
“We do not want to give an employer a weak reason to not even consider what we know to be an excellent plan and playbook for achieving the results we seek — a plan that has been adopted and implemented by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Steelers, University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, and others,” Stevens said.
He urged other universities and businesses fearing retribution to make similar changes, rather than cower away from equitable practices implemented in recent years.
“We're asking for these leaders, both locally and nationally, to not be intimidated by anyone, regardless of their position to dissuade these leaders from what they know in their hearts to be right,” Stevens added.
