As Trump makes his way back into the White House, so do his policies, as he hopes in this presidential term to disband the Education Department. In March, the Department of Education laid off over 50% of its workforce with all fingers pointing at the Trump Administration. Additionally, the President faces backlash after freezing any income-driven repayment programs, programs that are all under the Department of Education. But how does this affect local public schools like Ridgeview?
In the Kern High School District 18 of the 19 high schools, including Ridgeview are Title 1 in the 2024-2025 school year. Title 1 schools are public schools located in low income areas who get funding by the federal government. For Ridgeview this funding helps the school offer students field trips, substitute teachers, different programs on campus, and professional development for teachers. Robert Sanchez, Principal of Ridgeview says, “In May we will get the California revised budget and know then how that will impact [Ridgeview].” Explaining how it’s too soon to tell what will happen to school funding with many uncertainties surrounding the Department of Education.
The topic surrounding the government and its involvement in education has been a constant discussion especially now surrounding the potential dismantling of the Board of Education. Elliot Hopkins, a teacher at Ridgeview explains, “Anybody that’s involved in education, I think it’s important for them to pay attention to what’s going on, on both sides of the aisle. I think it’s worthwhile for teachers to look at conservative viewpoints and democratic viewpoints to get a whole picture of what is going on.”
Chris Arguello, explains that it’s important for people to understand that federal programs don’t directly affect State level approach to education, “California Department of Education does fall under the federal branch of education, but California can set the standards for what California teaches. A good example of this is [the new ethnic studies class] they offer to freshmen, that is something that is exclusive to California… to educate the students on what’s around them and the people they interact with and live with.”
With the topic of the Education Department in the headlines there’s still a lot of uncertainties about the overall dismantling of it. Although Trump has been vocal about dismantling the Education Department it’ll require an act from Congress to make anything official.
