Despite President Trump’s stated goal of dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, so far public schools are largely unscathed. Still, Clarke County School District officials are preparing for a potential 15–20% cut come July 1, when the district usually receives its federal funding.
“We don’t anticipate any changes in [fiscal year] 2026, but it’s something we need to monitor,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Griner told the school board at an Apr. 22 meeting to review CCSD’s proposed $251 million budget.
CCSD receives $3.6 million from the DOE for special education, $7.8 million through the federal Title I program for high-poverty schools, and $7.2 million for Head Start and Early Head Start, programs that educate children under age 5 from low-income families. In addition, the district receives $10.3 million through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program called the Community Eligibility Provision that funds free breakfast and lunches at schools with high rates of poverty.
The school nutrition program—which is not a part of the operating budget the school board is currently discussing—is in good shape, according to Griner, with $4 million in reserves. Head Start and Early Head Start would become optional if federal funding goes away, he told Flagpole, but CCSD would still have an obligation to provide services if it loses special education funding. In addition, some teaching positions are paid for by Title I. Those expenses would move into the general fund. “We are already thinking about how to fill that gap,” said Superintendent Robbie Hooker.
It’s likely that a court would step in if Trump tries to unilaterally cut education funding appropriated by Congress. If the DOE were abolished, its functions would be distributed to other cabinet departments. But the Republican-controlled House and Senate could vote to cut education funding as part of a reconciliation budget and tax bill. “It’s a very gray area,” Griner said. “Congress would have to get involved.”
Like the school district, the Athens-Clarke County government is waiting to see whether its formula funding for transit, affordable housing and social services is cut this year. ACC usually receives about $1.5 million annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and about $3.5 million from the Federal Transit Administration, in addition to various competitive grants for roads, law enforcement and other functions. A $5 million grant to install electric vehicle chargers throughout the county is currently on hold, as the Trump administration is attempting to block or claw back many of the Biden administration’s initiatives related to climate change.
“At this point, we are not seeing any issues with federal grants that were already under contract. We are waiting for information as it pertains to some of our annual ‘entitlement’ grants from HUD and FTA, as neither agency has communicated what changes, if any, we should anticipate. HUD has extended the submission period for our annual action plan, but I can only speculate if that is staffing-related, policy-related or a precursor to changes in funding,” said interim assistant manager Andrew Saunders.
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