What if the Department of Education disappears?

That was a an incredibly difficult day on both of our campuses.

To have to tell all of these families.

From funding to classrooms, the future of our schools could change dramatically.

He pledged to make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice.

On this community conversation the changing landscape of education.

Join us as experts, educators, and advocates.

Weigh in on what it means for students and families from early education to the collegiate level.

Coming to you live from the Universal Public Media Center in Bethlehem, PA.

Here's your host, Brittany Sweeting.

Good evening and welcome to our Community Conversation The Changing Landscape of Education, presented by PBS, 39 Elver radio 91.3 FM and Lehigh Valley News.com.

Tonight, we're tackling one of the biggest questions in American education.

What happens if the US Department of Education is dismantled?

From classrooms to statehouses, from teachers to families?

The ripple effects could be profound.

We've gathered experts, lawmakers, advocates and school leaders to help us break it all down and explore what it means for our schools, our students, and our future.

Here's what the dismantling and workforce cuts to the Department of Education look like so far.

The president ordered cuts to the D.o.e.

in an effort to shift control to states and local communities.

President Trump's newly instated education secretary, Linda McMahon, says she will do just that, adding she plans to put herself out of a job.

Officially, closing the department would take an act of Congress, but the administration's goal is to make it ineffective.

Roughly half the workforce upwards of 1900 employees was cut, hitting federal Student Aid and the office for Civil Rights especially hard.

Student loan management moved to the Small Business Administration.

Special needs and nutrition programs shifted to health and human Services.

School safety and mental health oversight was scaled back.

Fast reforms no longer allow nonbinary gender identification, and Head Start was restricted for undocumented immigrants.

A federal judge in Boston has blocked parts of the dismantling.

Supporters argue that this gives states more control and reduces federal overreach.

They argue it cuts bureaucracy, saves money and expands school choice.

Some claim it could lower tuition by reducing reliance on federal loans.

And President Trump has said education is a state and local responsibility, and shifting control will reduce bureaucracy.

After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than.

Any other country.

And spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country.

And it's not even close.

But yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.

With federal oversight.

On the chopping block, what happens to public schools, national standard student protections and access to funding.

To shed some light on those questions, we are joined now by Lehigh University Assistant Professor Cameron Anglin, along with State Representative Pete Schweizer, who serves as the chair of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee.

Thank you both so much for joining us and starting off this conversation this evening.

Cameron, we're going to start with you.

You study policy and the education field.

And so my first question for you would be what does this dismantling of the Department of Education mean in practical terms?

And really, why was the Department of Education put into place in the first place?

It's really important to remember in this conversation that the federal Department of Education has never really been the main driver of public education in our country.

States and localities have always been at the forefront of educating our public school students.

But over the past 20, 30, 50, 75 years, we've seen the federal government expand its role, really to protect the most vulnerable, vulnerable students across the country.

So those are students who come from impoverished backgrounds.

Those are students who might be learning English.

Those are students who might have suffered homelessness or things along those lines.

So dating back to the civil rights era and fast forwarding to today, the federal government has expanded its role to try to fund those students better, to try to provide better early childhood opportunities, better K-12 experiences for those students.

And because the federal government focuses on such vulnerable students, that's why I'm really worried about the types of cutbacks that we've started to see in the past year.

Sure.

What are we seeing so far?

So, for example, school funding has been threatened in some important ways.

Only about 8 to 12% of school funding in K-12 schools comes from the federal government.

The vast majority comes from states and localities.

But that 8 to 12%, depending on the year, focuses again on low income kids on English language learner kids on teacher training programs to help special special education programs across the country.

So when we cut programs like that, those that suffer disproportionately are those that come from those really tough backgrounds who can least afford the exit of their supporters, like federal programs.

We're going to bring Representative Peach Wire into the mix here from the state perspective.

What responsibilities will fall on the state as the Department of Education becomes dismantled?

You know, what responsibilities does the state have to now take on?

And are you concerned or are you confident that the state can do this?

Yeah.

So first, first and foremost, I want to emphasize something, Cameron said.

It's not like the president of the United States.

It's not like the secretary of Education, regardless of what administration we're talking about or picking the textbooks in your classroom.

It's yet another one of the great lies coming out of Washington, D.C.

right now that somehow, someway, D.C.

controls education in various communities.

The textbooks that my my youngest daughter is a freshman at William Allen High School reads are decided by our local school districts, elected by the people who live in Allentown to make those decisions.

Not some nameless, faceless bureaucrat or some president of the United States.

They have nothing to do with those conversations.

So the very talking point in the clip that you showed earlier of Secretary McMahon is where she's saying, we're going to return the responsibility back to the state is just, frankly, a lie, because it doesn't exist.

That already exists.

We already have that those opportunities where it's really going to be helpful or really very hurtful for us is that we learn from each other.

School districts across the United States come together and they exchange ideas.

We rely on our academic partners to tell us and teach us and show us the ways that we're able to educate our children better.

There are new technologies.

Just think about the AI revolution right now as a for example, there are a million different ways that that school districts are incorporating AI education into whether they're teaching kids coding or simply using that as a tool.

Those are really, really difficult for individual school districts, regardless of how big or small or rich or poor they are to be able to learn that stuff.

So without the research, without the partnerships, without that, that that joining together of folks, we're going to really suffer.

We're going to continue to be isolated by community, which is really one of the major problems that we have in education.

Generally speaking.

Does the state have the infrastructure right now to take on those responsibilities?

We don't, and we're not going to in the I know we're going to be hearing from some superintendents later today, the message that we have, that we've been constantly saying is that we can't fix all the problems, we can't backfill.

And let's be clear, the cuts in education are a massive concern for us, but it's part of a broader problem that's coming out of Washington, D.C.

just like as a legislator, I don't just vote on education issues.

We're not going to be able to backfill all the cuts to, to medical medical assistance and the Medicaid programs.

We're not going to be able to backfill all the cuts to food stamps and and supports along those lines.

There are a million different cuts out of the federal government that we're not going to be able to fix all of them and address all of them.

And and I know you want to get to camera, but one last thing that we didn't really touch on the higher education piece of this is just catastrophic.

On its best day, the Fafsa, which if anybody has ever sent their kids to college, I've a freshman in college is here.

The Fafsa, process is extraordinarily difficult and complex.

You're even working with local agencies like FDA gets very, very difficult to deal with.

That confusion is going to cause more and more children and the high school graduates to choose something other than college, even if they're super smart, super capable, and and want to choose a career path like that.

The chaos that the Trump administration has brought on education is going to take us decades, generations to fix.

Now we're going to talk more about the fasfa forms and the collegiate level in just a little bit.

But, Cameron, you know, along those lines, when it comes to long term funding and accountability, what kind of impacts are we looking at here?

So in addition to instruction at Lehigh University, I conduct research to to better inform how we can improve public education across the country.

Over the past year, we've seen about $1 billion cut from our research infrastructure that the federal government provides.

And I'll remind folks that that funding was instituted by a bipartisan group about 20 to 25 years ago.

So when we lose that ability to really find out what programs work for students, what programs work for, for schools that serve the most vulnerable students, those effects are felt in the short term, yes, but they're really felt most acutely in the middle and long term.

I have a two year old at home, so I'm super worried that when she enters the public school system in the years to come, that our ability to improve on our practices, our ability to recover, the delayed learning that has occurred over the past few years, from the from the pandemic, to address teacher burnout that is really pervasive in schools.

Our ability to learn those types of things are really threatened by the cuts that have been made to federal research infrastructure.

And there are other types of institutions that are trying to step in to fill part of that void.

But the void is enormous, and I fear that that all of it won't be able to be filled by by state actors, by private institutions.

Particularly for those schools and students that need it most.

But you hear the administration saying, this is putting the power back into the hands of local government, back into the hands of the state.

That sounds like a good thing.

Is there is there a silver lining here?

Is there something good in there that they that they are able to get through because they're dismantling the Department of Education?

You know, I struggle to to come up with too much of a positive response there.

I am very optimistic about what could happen in Pennsylvania.

So a couple of years ago, in 2023, our state Supreme Court, challenged our funding system.

And in the first year, beyond that, that decision we saw substantial hundreds of millions of dollars more injected, into into our school system.

The vast majority of school districts across the state saw some of that money.

So so in returning more power to the states, even if I don't so much, comport with that, with that message.

Pennsylvania has an opportunity, to invest in children.

The recent budget, that we've seen at the state level is threatening that for this year and beyond.

So I do think that there is, some opportunity at the state level.

But I wish, some of our folks that that vote on bills like this.

I know my, my colleague next to me is fighting hard along these lines.

We think about those in the context of the federal cutbacks that have been happening.

Yeah.

And I do want to ask you about the budget impasse right now.

Is this are the federal funds that typically come through the Department of Education?

Are they impacting how people are making this decision to pass or not pass the budget right now on the state level?

The truth is, there are a million different reasons why we haven't passed the budget at this point in time.

Certainly the federal cuts not so much in education, but the federal cuts and the ones that are coming down the line, particularly in our human services in places like that, are really impacting the conversation.

Even more so, the one the the, I want to I want to respond to your question about, is there a silver lining in all this?

I think the the fundamental way that we're looking at the relationship between local school districts, state governments that are ultimately responsible for education and the federal government is wrong.

The federal government is a partner in education.

Again, in terms of, of of research grants supporting students that, you know, don't necessarily stay in the same school district year after year after year helping those students that have special needs.

They are a partner in a very specific amount.

When you dismantle those programs, we lose a partner.

And it'd be one thing if that meant we all got bigger contributions from the federal government to be able to backfill those things, but that's not comp.

We have not seen the the in this part of the big beautiful bill or whatever it's called these days.

Nowhere did they ever return any of those additional moneys back to the to the States.

So it's one thing to say we're going to get out of the way and here's your money back.

But they they did one of those things and they dismantled the partnership that has been working.

So incredibly well.

And so very importantly, as we learn from each other without actually ever giving us those dollars back.

Okay.

We were talking earlier, Cameron had mentioned that it's programs like programs with children who have disabilities and low income programs.

Another one of the programs is ESL.

And with the Allentown School District having a population of about 75% Hispanic students.

When we think about these programs, like the ESL program possibly going away, what kind of impact will that have?

Are we going to see these programs kind of be diminished and what's the impact?

Yeah, I'll say this every school district is going to have to prioritize the the needs of their specific population, which is why we have a decentralized system of public education in Pennsylvania.

What works in one community isn't going to work in another.

I live in Allentown School District.

I'm an Allentown School District parent.

My again, my oldest is a, a freshman at William Allen.

We don't have just a large number of, of students from a Latin American or Central American, a country.

We have over 30 languages spoken from over 50, 55 nations of origin, a growing Ethiopian and Eritrean population, a growing, growing population from Poland, that are diaspora from the, you know, worried about escalation of war in Eastern Europe.

So it's more than that.

I can't speak on behalf of the school district, but I'm confident that as we prioritize, we're going to prioritize the overwhelming majority of students and their needs first.

Sure.

And I should clarify the ESL programs English as a second language camera.

And I saw you shaking your head about that.

Are these programs if they do go away, is this simple?

As you know, in three and a half years we reinstate them?

Or is this something that could we could see long term, especially as more Hispanic folks move into the area?

Yeah.

I'm very worried about the long term implications of that in the proposed budget, federal budget for for 2026, a lot of those programs are proposed to be cut entirely.

Funding for for those programs and districts will have to make very difficult funding decisions about what to forgo to shift funding towards, towards towards those areas.

I'm all for a goal of efficiency.

I'm all for spending dollars wisely in education.

The challenge that I see here is that if we forego this expenditure now, forego $1, now, we're going to have to pay two, three, $4 down the line to to make up for the fact that these students didn't have the right access to, to programs, might not be able to access things like jobs or post-secondary education down the line because ten, 15 years ago, they didn't receive the right type of support.

We saw that 15 years ago, give or take, in the Great Recession.

That was my next question.

Have we seen this before?

When?

When, funding cuts were enacted after the Great Recession?

Very different circumstances, obviously, but when funding cuts were enacted, we saw an entire generation of students, suffer in the long term.

So we won't be able to see the full effects of current funding cuts, until, you know, five, ten, 15 years down the line.

But I don't want to wait that long to see those negative effects.

I'd rather see us reinvest right now.

And I think that's the efficient thing to do.

Sure.

Pete, I have to ask you, what's the most urgent thing you you would like to see the legislature do right now, especially in this time of uncertainty?

Not on the federal level, not just on the federal level, but on the state level as well.

What do you think that they can do to help people feel more at ease in these situations?

The good news is it's a pretty straightforward answer.

We need to pass the budget, maintaining the the plan that we set forth last year of investing, with what will be, at the very least, $550 million for the most at risk and growing school districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, along with additional funds through are what are two major funding programs, basic funding formula and the special Education formula.

If we know we have that path, it's we did it last year.

We made a commitment that we were going to continue doing that for nine years total.

So this plus seven more on top of it, we just simply have to get back to the bargaining table and pass that budget.

That does what we know has to get done.

Chair.

Finally, Cameron, I want to ask you, what do parents, students, you know, people, constituents.

What should they be paying attention to right now as we move forward?

Yeah.

So there are a number of different programs, that have been really effective in Pennsylvania schools in recent years.

You know, for example, last year the state started a student teacher stipend program.

I would encourage folks to to reach out to the legislators, reach out to their school districts.

Passing the budget is the first step towards kind of thwarting the the effects of what's happening in DC.

And, you know, I think that if we're able to pass that budget, then we can start planning for the future.

It's one thing to to commit funding for a single year.

Students need sustained support throughout their educational trajectories in order to reap those gains in the long term.

So I'm lobbying our our elected officials and lobbying our school district officials to, to support, to support their students.

Would be my best bet.

Some great insights.

Cameron Angland from Lehigh University, as well as State Representative Peach Wire.

Thank you both so much for joining the conversation.

Thank you.

Thanks, Robert.

Absolutely.

Well, from the loss of federal funding to threats to title nine protections, sweeping changes are also being made on the post-secondary level.

Here's a look at some of the recent moves to alter education at colleges and universities.

The changes include attempts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion on campuses such as title nine protections.

President Trump signed executive orders ending federal D-I programs.

Gender ideology and so-called radical indoctrination.

He has threatened to take action by rescinding federal funding if some D-ii curriculum doesn't shift.

The crackdown has already forced closures of multicultural centers on a dozen campuses.

Shifts have also been made in the world of athletics, including funding loss to schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in women's sports for higher education and financial aid.

Changes look like this.

Obama era protections for students defrauded by colleges were rescinded.

Debt relief claims for student borrowers have been stalled or denied.

Test optional admissions are under scrutiny as possible DUI violations.

Research funding cuts threaten programs at minority serving institutions.

Vouchers and patriotic education have been promoted instead.

In addition, education is seeing cuts in data and oversight.

Federal education data systems were gutted And here now to continue the conversation and talk about what's happening at the local level.

Our Pennsylvania State Education Association president Aaron Chapman, Eastern Area School District Superintendent Tracy Piazza, as well as Bethlehem Area School Superintendent Jack Silva.

Thank you all so much for joining us for this conversation.

I will open the conversation up here with our superintendents.

What are you seeing first hand?

We're in the first month or so of school starting.

What are you seeing firsthand in your districts as it pertains to the dismantling of the Department of Education?

Jack, if you'd like to start.

A lot of uncertainty.

We know that we've over the summer, we've developed the academic programs, hired the staff with the anticipation that the funding streams that contribute to a school district budget would be there.

With, over the summer, when we saw some federal clawbacks, we saw some conditional funding.

And in addition to the state's, budgets being uncertain, it sort of holds us in place.

So, that uncertainty does, that does cause delay.

It does cause reduced opportunities for students as we hedge our bets in an uncertain future.

What are some of those programs?

What are some examples of those programs that are federally federally funded that may go away if those funds aren't there?

Perfect example will be title three, which generally serves students who are English language learners in Bethlehem.

That's over 1200 students, and the support of them and their families requires language services, language guides, certain assistive technologies or in curricular materials.

Professional training of both, English language teachers and regular ed teachers.

That's all up in the air right now.

So the students still have the needs.

They still have language learning needs, but our ability to forecast where we're going to be able to afford those supports is still uncertain.

Tracie, are you feeling that uncertainty as well in Easton?

Yeah, I absolutely agree.

You know, right now our kids are in school and learning and doing very well.

Our schools are quiet and productive, but behind the scenes we are looking every day at what programs can we afford?

How many teachers can we afford to keep on?

What support systems can we afford to keep on?

You know, as was mentioned earlier, Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, I like are all very diverse communities with, you know, we're about 47 different languages spoken there.

And so when you talk about multilingual or ESL education, it's not just about our Hispanic population, which is by far our largest population of non-English speakers.

But, you know, to program for them appropriately at the various levels that they come into our school system is a challenge, not knowing what our funding will be for that and then how to reprioritizing the the funding that we do have so that we are not leaving students behind based on any demographic that they may, experience.

Sure.

And, Aaron, I'm going to bring you into this.

How might all of this, the, lack of federal oversight on education?

What might that do?

Or how might that impact teachers across the state?

Well, it's.

Just it's a really scary situation because this is a plan that was not well thought out quickly enacted.

Try that way.

It can be quickly.

They could quickly dismantle the Department of Education.

And unfortunately, what we're going to see is a lot of uncertainty is the $1.6 billion in Pennsylvania sees annually.

Is that money going to be coming to Pennsylvania?

And obviously, you know, this is money that, as we've heard earlier, goes for special education.

We have so many students in Pennsylvania, it's all gone up, you know, 5% from 15% to 20% in the last, a little bit more than a decade who receive special ed services in Pennsylvania.

And, you know, we need to be providing them with as many services as possible.

But without that 1.6 billion.

What's going to happen?

We've heard about the title services.

These are affecting our communities that have high poverty.

And of course, we need to be investing more money into these communities that have high poverty.

So there's a lot of uncertainty.

And unfortunately, it's our kids that are going to be losing out in the end.

We're going to have higher class sizes.

And that's just not something that our kids deserve.

Our kids deserve all the resources they can possibly get.

What are you hearing from teachers that they're worried?

Well, I, I was hearing it earlier in the calendar year that this was the day they read the playbook.

They knew what was coming.

This is something that the administration told everybody was going to happen.

And sure enough, the dismantling has begun.

And we have educators from every corner of the state.

We have support staff from every corner of the state.

They're really worried what's going to happen, what's going to happen to our students?

They're the ones that we care about so much, and we want to make sure that they have every opportunity.

Sure.

You were just mentioning the special education folks with disabilities.

Tracy, are you seeing any of the programs in Easton being impacted when it comes to children with disabilities, and if so, how?

So I think right now, again, it's paying attention to the budget because not only your local budget, you know, your tax free, tax base in your local budget, but it is counting on that federal and state money to come through.

And so some of that is the planning.

So again, we are running our programs.

But what we are seeing is an ongoing increase of students with special needs, whatever they may be, shortage of programs out there in terms of if we have students who need specialized programs, those programs are filled to capacity.

And so programing for students with with very specific needs is a challenge.

And then being able to bring some of that back in-house is also a challenge, because we don't know if the funding is there.

So again, just like Ell students, it's our prioritization of our students who are often, most, fragile in the education system that require a large part of our funding to make sure that they are, giving their fair opportunity in public education.

And so, similarly, you know, the same holds true with our early education programs, where that funding is tenuous.

And, for students to have those basic needs met early on and hope to stave away some of those special needs that might experience later, you know, that will perpetuate those needs as well as funding.

Isn't there for the resources needed to to continue the programing?

Sure.

And I see both of you shaking your heads.

We're going to continue this conversation, but we do have a viewer question I'd like to bring up on the screen here.

And this is for our superintendents.

This is from Amanda and she asks in which ways can the community help to fill the gaps that these changes may have on the minority population or children with special needs?

So how can the community pitch in?

Jack, would you like to answer that one?

It's primarily advocacy at this point.

The fact that the federal government is a partner, as we heard in the other, section of today's program, it has been an anti-poverty partner.

It has been a supporting of civil rights and opportunities for students with disabilities.

So they're you're talking about title one services in the Bethlehem Area School District.

We use title one services for hiring of, reading specialist class size reduction, support services.

Those those are targeted disproportionately to students in poverty and special needs students.

When those resources are delayed or uncertain, we still have to provide to services by law.

So internal funds then pay for those what was paid for with title one.

And the rest of the budget has to change.

Either that or the local, taxpayers have to pick up the bill for the prevent the class sizes from becoming larger, or not having the support services under law to meet those mandates.

So advocacy for the understanding of what the federal resources actually do for children in public schools is probably where parents can be most effective.

Sure.

And I have a question then for Erin.

How can teachers, you know, act as, you know, the stability through all of this?

Can they do that?

Can they support their parents and their students that they're, you know, interacting within the classroom and offer some stability?

Well, the one group I. Can always depend on are the educators and support staff.

They're there for their students no matter what's going on, whether it be at the state level or at the federal level, they're there, and they're going to do whatever they can within their power to give those kids the education that they so sorely deserve.

But I think it's also important.

Remember, we're not just talking about the school districts.

We're also talking about intermediate units.

And, you know, late last school year, there was money that was frozen and there was a lot of uncertainty of how they were going to even open their doors this fall.

And it was only until, early in the summer that they were told, oh, this money will be provided again, another step that the Trump administration is taking to put a lot of uncertainty into the air.

It's all part of the plan.

We have another story we're going to hear in just a little bit on the collegiate level of that uncertainty and a program coming to a close at the end of this month.

But before we get to that, Tracie, there's another follow up question from one of our viewers that I wanted to direct your way.

And this question is from Robin, and she asks what partnerships that are already established between schools and community partners will be sustained, despite the funding cuts made by the Department of Education?

Is there anything that comes to mind there?

So that's a really challenging question because it is one that we look at weekly, you know, and certainly annually, but we look at it almost weekly now as we're negotiating and navigating our budgets.

I will say, you know, in Easton, we have tremendous community support and community partnerships with places like our Boys and Girls Club.

Some of our local churches, Project Easton, some of those people, are steadfast in and in our neighborhood and will not go away.

Partly because they help fund the programs themselves.

But we have other great partners that we had to scale back, such as communities and schools, because we can't afford financially the services.

Yet we also can't afford to not have the services because our students desperately need, you know, that mental health help or the counseling help.

So the question itself is difficult to say.

Which one do we choose?

When I think we try to look at the needs amongst our students within the district and prioritize accordingly.

And we certainly try to work with our community partners to see how can we be creatively funding those programs together.

And that's how we decide what's going to stay and what may have to diminish, temporarily, hopefully.

But I will say, and I probably can speak for Jack as well.

Our community partners are a staple of our community, and we couldn't run our education programs without them.

So we are they are tough choices that we look at, you know.

Sure.

Have any of those community partnerships gone away yet?

The nonprofit world is in the same boat as the school districts, who are in the same boat as municipal governments.

Their budgets are uncertain.

Some of their flow, their cash flow from the federal government is even more significant than school districts.

So when you have existing partnerships with, community organizations that provide mental health supports, a full range of things that we have in our in the Bethlehem community, that disruption of that partnership, that disruption of the certainty really does redound to the influence upon students.

All right.

Aaron, I want to, come over here to you.

And we've talked about, children with disabilities.

We've talked about children who maybe need some language support.

I want to get a little bit into the Dei side of things over the past few years, a lot of our local schools have emphasized Dei and really put a lot of programs in place to support Dei initiatives.

That has changed.

So how is that being managed in the classrooms right now with that changing curriculum?

And our teachers worried or, you know, are they are they talking about will they say or do the wrong thing because we're seeing repercussions happen?

Well, of course it's going to be different from the 500 school districts that we have across the state.

And there are some that, you know, the the administration is very much warning, you know, educators, be careful of what you're talking about.

You know, we have we have clubs, where it's being mandates are being passed down.

You're going to need to change the name of this club, which is really disappointing because, you know, our schools are all about, you know, belonging and making children feel welcome and, you know, diversity and equity and inclusion.

These are things that help our students, you know, their growth and development.

And we're suddenly telling them that this is just not acceptable anymore.

And that's we need to make our schools a welcoming place.

And that's all these programs have been doing.

And so there is a lot of uncertainty.

You know, we have educators and support staff that are hearing that they're just not allowed to talk about that, or they're wondering, what am I allowed to talk about?

And who's this harming?

In the end, it's our students.

We need to focus on our students, and stop playing these games when it comes to, you know, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Jack, it looks like that's struck a nerve with you.

Yeah.

I'm fortunate that we Bethlehem, as a community and our school board specifically is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion.

You know, our thought is, well, the opposite of diversity is exclusivity or conformity.

The opposite of inclusion is exclusion.

And the opposite of equity is inequality.

Who's like, we're not we're not ashamed to be in favor of Dei.

A lot of our programs have been built in ways that provide equitable resources for students who need them, which is very cost efficient.

And we we put that out there with our community partners, who also agree with us that retracing your steps on Dei not only has an economic quality about it, but it makes people question the veracity of the system that is changing its mind.

So we're not we're not going there in the Bethlehem Area School District, however, that feeling of uncertainty that teachers feel in that conversation, or what can be said or not said in a classroom is affecting students.

But organizationally, our district and our community are still committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Sure.

Tracy, where does Easton stand on the issue wise?

We, we are committed to maintaining our standard of diversity, equity, inclusion.

It has been a staple of our program.

We are a very diverse community.

And so to say that we are going to ignore that aspect of education means we're going to ignore a large part of our community and a large part of our student body.

So, you know, we have not moved away from any of our initiatives at this point because we believe that they are, not initiatives indoctrinating anyone.

There are initiatives that are supporting students at the place they live, and they are within the educational system.

And our goal is to have equitable opportunities for kids and meet them at their at their a point of entry and help them grow so they can move on to whatever their post-secondary, you know, experience is going to look like.

And so we have not and will not abandon them, you know, certainly while I'm the superintendent.

Well, we had the sitting word that's there who truly believes in our community and our kids.

So, just where we stand.

Yeah.

Jack.

Expanding along, you know, when it comes to funding in the spring, you said at your, state of the district address that the 2% of federal funding was well leveraged for the benefit of students.

So what does that look like?

What does that funding look like?

And how is it being, used to serve students?

Federal funding is a between 2 and 3% of our $373 million budget, which means it's a little over $7 million a year.

But that $7 million a year is highly leveraged in support of the most needy students who have the most expensive services.

So to cover those expensive services with just strictly local resources will require additional local effort or scaling back other programs to be able to support them.

So it's it it's not a shell game.

It's a partnership, as we've heard earlier.

And when someone else doesn't help us with the pieces of that partnership, it falls upon us to do it.

Sure.

Aaron, what are you telling educators as you move forward?

Well, you know, that $1.6 billion we're talking that that covers roughly about 7000 educators and support staff across the state.

And ultimately all that's going to do, those jobs disappear.

Those those professionals go away.

We're going to see drastic rises in class sizes.

It doesn't matter where you are in the state, whether you're rural, suburban or urban, you're going to see class sizes rise.

You're not going to see, you know, the kids getting the services they need.

You know, when I was a fifth grade teacher, before I became president, a PSA, I was lucky enough to have a title, you know, reading classroom.

And we had two educators come in with 15 students.

And those kids made such great advances during the school year, that's going to go away if that $1.6 billion disappears.

Okay.

Well, I want to thank all of you for your insights for on this topic.

I think we could continue to talk about it, and I think we will continue to talk about it throughout the school year.

And as this funding, you know, initiative, takes place.

So I want to thank Aaron Chapman from SCA doctor Jack silver from the Bethlehem Area School District, as well as Tracy, from the Eastern Area School District.

Thank you all for joining this conversation.

Well, both students at the collegiate level and in the early years of their life are being impacted by federal funding cuts for the past two decades.

Those earning a degree locally could qualify for childcare assistance while in school at Northampton Community College.

But that's changing.

This month.

It feels like.

We're packing them up and putting them on the curb.

It feels like we're kicking them out.

That's a really hard pill to swallow their children.

So to with it.

You have a safe, loving environment.

I try to.

That supports educational growth.

So what's your colors for babies.

That red, red and yellow.

Oh so many young men.

Who that's what parents look for in their child care provider.

And when she started coming here, I've noticed like a change in her speech.

And although Ashley Barker is juggling parenting and earning a degree, she knows what comes first.

My daughter is just the most brightest, energetic, smartest little girl.

The White home mom just completed the diagnostic medical sonography program at Northampton Community College and is taking classes to learn more about health care administration.

She says the last two years of school were possible because she had reliable child care for her four year old Shiloh at the Redman Hall Family Children's Center.

The facility not only offers full time child care services, but serves as a classroom for early education students on Pnc's main campus in Bethlehem.

There were times where I had classes from ten, 2 to 3, like, what would I have done?

I don't have family that live close.

Most of my family actually live far away.

So it was just nice to have that option.

Up to this point, the cost of Barker's childcare has been covered by a grant.

Are Pell.

Grant recipients on any of.

Our campuses are able.

To obtain, child care grant, in order to continue their studies and have their children here at one of our childcare facilities.

But that free care is quickly coming to an end.

We are looking at multiple families that by September 30th, that will be their last day.

Wait for your.

Work to be low quality.

Being that it's being taken away at the end of the month.

It also has me like in a sort of like in a panic, because this is very abrupt for to be taken away.

We've been really fortunate over the last 20 years to hold this funding and to work in conjunction with the Department of Education to provide this for families.

And it's built up to be about 25% of our families combined on both our Pocono campus and our main campus, who have received this funding.

Nicole Rooney says the main campus has about 80 children enrolled in the program.

Just as the semester started, the announcement came that federal childcare grants for Pell Grant recipients will end.

To have to go to them.

As a parent myself, have to go to them and say, hey, I know that you're trying.

We know here that you're trying so hard and this is it.

And we're going to try we're going to figure it out.

But we don't have a definitive answer for you.

And.

We've got to take it one step at a time.

And it's a lot of uncertainty.

It was hard.

It was really devastating.

I'm so sorry.

It was incredibly devastating.

The loss of funding creates barriers for students that Rooney says could lead to dropped classes or the inability to work.

Just as some of these parents thought.

They're here because they escaped such horrible.

Past lives.

I'll call them.

You know, some of them are even here from other countries, and this is their third start.

And they have children and telling they're truly, truly trying to make better lives for their children.

And every time they take a step forward, lately, it feels like two steps back.

So she says, the college is working with community funders to provide temporary support.

We are trying our hardest to rally the community as quickly as possible.

We are trying to get our lawmakers and our representatives to pay attention.

We don't.

We don't need them to pay attention a year from now.

We need them to pay attention.

Right now.

The facility, which is already offering under the market childcare rates, serves as a critical, safe space for both children and parents, many of whom face additional challenges like food insecurity and housing issues.

It made me very sad.

I actually was very emotional when Nicole told me that because I just thought about like, what if I am going?

Is what if I was starting the program now and and I find out that, oh, the grant is being take it away.

I wouldn't know what to do.

I would probably have to pull back on my education because I won't have any any takers, so I won't be able to afford it.

And we thank her for sharing her story.

A large amount of money comes out of American pockets for post-secondary and early childhood education, as you just heard.

Joining us now to talk about that is Zena Cahill from Children First advocacy coordinator, Sandra miller from Education Voters, and Evelyn Blatt, the associate vice president of enrollment for Moravian University.

Ladies, thank you all so much for joining the conversation, Zena.

We'll start with you.

And early childhood education.

Let's start with why it's so important.

First.

Yeah, absolutely.

So early childhood education lays the foundation for future success.

The most rapid amount of brain development happens in those 0 to 5 years.

And so whenever children are able to access high quality early childhood education, they're able to, get their neural pathways ready, for learning when they go into the K-12 system.

And then it sets them up for success and into adulthood.

And early childhood is feeling the funding cuts.

Pennsylvania receives $16 million from for from the preschool development block grants in the last cycle.

And so can you break that down how that money is directly supporting children, families and providers as well?

And what happens under the current circumstances?

Absolutely.

So the Preschool Development Block grant is flexible funding that states can use to improve early childhood education systems.

It it's a smaller bucket of money, in Pennsylvania this past year, like you said, we got $16 million in funds, a number of different things, though.

We used it to fund this last cycle.

A needs assessment examining the need for access to early childhood education across the state of Pennsylvania.

It funds, mental health and behavioral supports for young children, both infants and in preschool.

And it also funds, teacher coaching, teacher professional development, teacher training, resources for children experiencing homelessness.

I mean, the list is pretty, pretty long.

It funds a lot of different programs that really support, children and families.

And so right now, that funding is really uncertain.

The white House has called for the elimination of it.

The House, at the federal level, is calling for its elimination.

And the Senate is calling for level funding of it.

So no increase in that funding.

So what kind of safeguards are protections would you like to see put in place to help children and parents at that level?

I mean, that's sort of a trick question, right?

But I it's you can't pick and choose, right.

What what programs you want to stay and what you don't.

All of these are integral to children and families success.

And so, you know, ultimately in a dream world, the protections that we would want are for the Preschool Development Block grant to stay and for funding to be increased to meet the need in the state.

Sure.

And, Sandra, I want to bring you into this conversation.

You are an advocacy coordinator for education voters.

What are you telling the folks who are coming to you looking for answers right now, when it comes to the dismantling of the Department of Education?

Well, we spent most of our time just now just trying to understand the impact that it has on a local level.

So we've had webinars and we do one pagers, and we provide information so that they understand what might happen if these things go away.

To make them understand that it's research and support and policy and best practice work.

But also it's very important for people to understand the Office of Civil Rights and the dramatic changes that have happened there.

That was the protection for our most vulnerable students.

The Philadelphia office has been closed.

They reduced, down to, 12 offices, down to seven, losing that, opportunity for families to have that option to.

Go to the federal government and say.

My needs are not being met, you need to address, concerns that we have that is vanished.

Over 6000 cases, up to 10,000 cases have been eliminated.

So there's concerns about that among the special ed community.

There's concern about that among the individuals that might be affected by some diversity programing.

So we've been trying to understand how we as a community and a state can support these students at what they are.

Sure.

What do parents and community members, what do they need to understand about this situation?

With the D.o.e.

right now?

They need to understand that they have some options and advocacy.

They have an.

Option to step.

Up.

As.

Noted, the Senate has really leveled off the funding.

But when you have the administration and the House currently defunding major programs like the programs.

For English language learners.

Like.

You know, the House is currently.

Cutting billions of dollars out of the title, one that will dramatically affect all students in the building.

People have to understand that when you reduce funding in one area, as Superintendent Silver noted, that infects the whole funding stream within the district.

So we need to advocate as a group for all of this and not just try to say, well, my child is in an English language channel or my.

Child is not in the title one school.

We all need to advocate and all need to press forward, and we have an opportunity.

We have an individual.

Here that represents and.

The House.

That is on the education component, and.

We can try to.

Voice our concerns.

They need to tell their stories about what losing the services will mean.

It's the.

Stories and the impact.

That that losing out.

On that, extra teacher that comes into their classroom to teach them things that they need, that extra support, what that will.

Mean to the whole classroom.

And what that means to their child.

And that has a biggest impact to where we as we just heard a story from Ashley on the collegiate level, evil.

And that's where we bring you in.

You're the expert on the collegiate level when it comes to financial aid.

And that's really taking a hit right now.

With changes and people not understanding what is happening at that level.

So what are you seeing firsthand in the financial aid office at Moravian University?

So it really varies from family to family.

Some families aren't really sure what's going on, and other families are reading a lot about it in the news.

And where it really gets confusing is it changes.

It changes so frequently.

And so depending on when families are paying attention or when they're reading the information and when they're, understanding it, it can change from time to time.

We, run regular events, and we find that families are actually a lot more comfortable coming to our events, coming to see us in person, to ask us, to pull us aside and ask us one on one, what does this mean for me?

What does this mean for my child?

A new student or a returning student?

And they're just they're very confused about what all the options are.

They're hearing things like the Department of Education goes away.

Well, to them that means everything goes away.

That means the Fafsa goes away.

That means that Pell Grants go away.

That means the federal loans go away.

It doesn't mean those things.

But when they hear the headline, they don't know how to understand it and they don't know how it affects them.

Sure.

Evelyn, can you get into that a little bit more?

What happens to Fasfa from here?

What's proposed to happen to it?

Fafsa keeps going, just goes under a different office.

If the Department of Education goes away, the Fafsa has to be there to have the Pell Grant, because the Pell Grant will keep going, just may not be under the Department of Education.

We heard that the federal loans are slated to move to the Small Business Association.

Those places still exist.

That funding will still go.

It'll go in a different mechanism.

It will go with a little bit less efficiency.

Because the Department of Ed has been doing this for a while now, they've kind of got the hang of it.

And so things will keep happening.

They'll just happen in a different way.

And, like we've heard earlier, things happen in generations.

Families, parents tell their kids what happened when they went to school.

There's 20, 30 years in between there.

And so it's the generational thing that I think is really going to affect us long term.

Yeah, I was just going to say it's already sort of I remember years ago when I applied to college, it was already sort of a complicated process when it came to financial aid.

And now it's changing again, which kind of, you know, maybe the students parents thought they knew about it, and now they're coming to you.

Are they are they feeling dismayed or are they feeling like, you know what?

I'm just I'm just not going to I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to go to class.

I'm not going to.

I'm just going to drop out.

Are you hearing that?

We are hearing that at some level, more on the students coming in, rather than the students who are already here.

They don't.

Students don't need another barrier.

They don't need another barrier.

To any of the pieces.

When we talk about financial aid, it's not just the federal financial aid, it's state financial aid.

It's institutional financial aid.

It's outside scholarships.

It's funding from all across this country, that help those students go to school and stay in school.

And as you talked about and other people have talked about, it's confusing and it's different at every school.

And so having students and families feel comfortable reaching out to the one, two, five, seven, ten, 20 schools that they're looking at attending and, the upcoming years, talk to each of the schools, find out how at that school that stuff is going to affect them.

I think that's the most powerful thing that they can do to take ownership, and have some power over the situation.

Evelyn, we're going to come back to higher education in just a little bit.

Sandra, I have a viewer question for you.

If you wouldn't mind answering, we're going to bring that up on the screen here.

This is from Diane.

She asks what happens to the programs for children with IEPs and the programs that children need because of their household financial status in the K through 12 realm?

Yeah, I appreciate that question because I wasn't maybe as clear.

These programs don't go away because they are in law.

So the idea is and the, Ada, which is the, act for disabilities, those are still in law.

They just the services and that are going to be provided will be in a different location.

We believe that there's the block grant possibility will lead to more confusion and inefficiency.

It.

Will.

Require the states as they receive those block grants to provide the right services.

So by law, we still have to meet those needs.

By law, we still have to make sure that because of the, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we still have to provide title one and services to those students.

They could provide less funding for it.

Which will defund.

It, and they'll still have to happen and the needs have to be met.

It's just not going to be has, the nice partnership.

That we've had.

I love that word.

And the nice, collaboration that we've been able to do to make sure that all the needs are met, it's going to be much more difficult and very much concerning about the ability to have, the, options and resources that used to be in place, you know, having, you know, limited, support on the federal level.

Sure.

Xana on the same along the same lines, the individuals with disabilities, education Act, Ida that provides crucial funding for early intervention and special education for the the younger students.

Now, if the Doe is dismantled what happens to children ages birth through five you know before they go to kindergarten who rely on these supports such as like the part B preschool program.

So a lot of my response really echoes everything that Sandra just said.

You know, the funding will still be there for children to access their early intervention services if they have IEPs or if SPS, if they're in the 0 to 3, age bracket.

But there will be a lot of confusion about how to access the funding in order for children to receive those services.

And then also echoing what has been said a lot tonight, the protections that families have through the Office of Civil Rights, are at risk.

Families want to make sure that they can access those services for their children, that their children are entitled to those services.

And they want to make sure that they get them.

And so, I think the biggest risk here is just confusion.

And then, if the funding changes, how can states supplement that?

Which, as we heard, I'm not sure that Pennsylvania can.

Share Xana when we talk about early education, why is it so important that we invest in early education and give children a basis before they head to kindergarten?

Why is that so important right now?

Yeah, so as I said previously, you know, the brain science says that in 0 to 5, that's when your most of your neural connections are forming.

Right.

And so having access to good, high quality early childhood education sets you up for success.

It sets you up for the foundational skills that you need, in terms of your cognitive and social emotional development in K to 12.

But then as long as you go into those, into that realm, set up for success, it sets you up for success later in life, too.

There's a lot of societal payoffs.

Your return on investment is huge.

You are less burdensome on the health system.

You are a higher economic contributor.

You are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college and achieve post-secondary, education.

You are more likely to stay out of the juvenile justice system in the prison system.

And so, I mean, the return on investment is huge when you have access to high quality early childhood education, especially if you're coming from, perhaps a vulnerable population, it can really just alter the trajectory.

Extremely.

On the other side of the aisle, the educators who educate this age group birth for five don't always have the highest paying salaries.

And a lot of the federal funds go to help supplement that.

What happens if those funds go away?

Yeah.

So, the early childhood workforce is a an absolutely fractured workforce.

K12 has a teacher shortage.

And it suffers, don't get me wrong there.

But early childhood educators who are certified are making half of what their K to 12 counterparts are receiving.

And so the funding that's in place that comes from the D.o.e.

like funding from the Preschool Development Block Grant, for example, that provides training and coaching and professional development to those teachers.

If that goes away and those teachers have even less support than they already are getting and this more privatized system they're going to I mean, they're already leaving, but they're going to keep leaving.

They're going to leave for higher paying jobs, lower stakes jobs, lower skill set jobs.

And we're already seeing that, you know, less teacher.

There's less, students going into early childhood ed teacher programs even compared to other people.

And we only have a couple seconds for this program.

But if there's one piece of information you give to either the higher education folks or trickles all the way down, what would be that?

Ask, ask, ask the questions, reach out and ask the professionals like yourselves.

Well, thank you so much for that wonderful information.

Zena.

Sandra Evelyn, thank you so much for shedding some light.

Thank you.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

And that will do it for this community conversation.

The changing landscape of education.

These are the important conversations we hope to continue to provide to viewers like you here at Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Have a good night.