Trump has long made clear that eliminating the Department of Education is a priority stating that “[w]e’re going to end education coming out of Washinton, D.C. We’re going to close it up.”[1]
Last week Trump told Fox News that he would immediately “end” the Department of Education[2] using the “president’s long-recognized Impoundment Power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings.”[3]
Abolishing the Department of Education and undermining the right to public education has been a Republican goal since school desegregation in the 1960s. It is also a centerpiece of the ultra-right Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 – Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.[4]
What does abolishing the Department of education mean to taxpayers in Westmoreland County?
Westmoreland County schools currently receive $1,800 per student in direct federal funds and in federal funds distributed by the PA Department of Education.[5]
By eliminating the Department of Education, Trump will take away more than $82 million from local school districts. [6] Programs for rural and low-income schools, students with disabilities, and charter schools will be reduced or eliminated.[7]
Hempfield will lose $10 million. Norwin and Penn Township will lose $9 million and $7 million, respectively. Franklin Region, Latrobe, and Greensburg-Salem will each lose $5 million or more. Smaller school districts, primarily in rural and low-income areas of the county, will carry the rest of the burden and will be the hardest hit.
State Republicans lead by Senators Ward, Pittman, and Martin will make this problem even worse as they move to cut Governor Shapiro’s budget by reducing state funding for education.[8]
Where will the money come from? Our schools are already under financial pressure as tax bases dwindle.[9]
We have already seen tax hikes by the county, townships, boroughs, cities, and school districts. But property taxes will rise to unprecedented levels to fill the school funding gap hitting seniors the hardest.
Unprecedented increases in property taxes? The choice is yours this November.
[3] https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-using-impoundment-to-cut-waste-stop-inflation-and-crush-the-deep-state
[4] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise
[5] U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics 9/8/23 https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics
[6] County student enrollment from PA Department of Education times the loss of federal funding per student. County student enrollment as of 10/1/23 https://www.education.pa.gov/DataAndReporting/Enrollment/Pages/PublicSchEnrReports.aspx
[8] https://www.pasenategop.com/news/senate-republican-leadership-statement-massive-spending-increase-in-shapiro-budget-raises-concerns/
[9] https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/westmoreland-school-districts-struggle-with-funding-shortfalls/
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