Over the past 82 days, the Trump administration has been all but quiet about their ferocious cuts to the Federal government, but they have also been less than vocal about their impacts. One of the most important aspects of the federal cuts is the impact on the education at the local level. The gutting of the Department of Education on March 20th 2025, and other cuts to spending on local schools have resulted in a trickle down effect for the local school districts all across the country, one of them is Wayne Westland School District. So I decided to interview the district to see the resulting impacts these cuts could have upon the district.
The main source of funding for the district is state and local funding, with a majority of funding coming from the state. However, there are still things that will be affected, as they say, “Wayne-Westland receives both federal and state grants, the largest of which are the Title grants, which are federal and the At Risk, which is state-funded.”
While there are obviously going to be impacts from the cuts, it maybe hard to fully grasp the impacts. However, the school district of Wayne-Westland has a good indicator of what these cuts could do. With $19,143,000 in federal funding going to the school district in the fiscal year of 2023-2024, that is $1,942 per each student; that is 11% of all funding to the school district. Furthermore these cuts are attributed to helping out kids with their ability to give amenities to their students. As one of the workers said, “Universal free breakfast and lunch could be one of the cuts.”
The programs that will be affected involve those who cannot provide the resources themselves. Those without the ability to get food for the kids depend on the program to make sure the kids without packed lunches receive some nutrition in their schools. The problem arises when the programs are cut, because, “At risk funds that are used to help low income families could be cut.” That is a big problem for Wayne-Westland, considering 23.3% of all students in the district are below the poverty line, lower than the national average.
The response to the cuts will be of patients and being wary of the plan forward. With budgets being downsized and money not being available, changes will have to be made. With the plan being, “continuing to provide services this year with a cautious eye at what might happen next year. We are hoping that the courts will prevail and funding will be continued by the legislature.”
The ultimate legality of these cuts have been called into question as the president does not have the authority to nullify legislation with an executive order. So the courts are expected to strike down a majority of the orders that interfere with legislation passed by congress. That includes funding for special needs kids in school districts. As the District says, “Most of special education funding is codified or based on law. We are hoping that the courts will not allow changes in this very important funding and the legislature will back up these laws.”
The ultimate impact of the cuts to education on the local level is yet to be seen and will probably not be seen for years. However, the data shown paints a clear image of the kind of impact this might have. That is, if there is no pushback from the courts or legislators.
