President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts to the Department of Education could impact Mid-Missouri schools' resources available for teachers.
Last month, the Trump administration released its preliminary budget proposal for the 2018 fiscal year. That proposal covered only discretionary spending, which doesn't include things like Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and interest on national debt, according to the Washington Post.
The budgets for all presidential Cabinet departments are within the 27 percent of spending accounted for by discretionary spending, though - from the Environmental Protection Agency and State, Agriculture and Labor departments, which see the largest decreases in Trump's budget proposal, to the departments that see budget increases, the departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and Defense.
The Department of Education is proposed to see a 13 percent cut overall, or $9 billion less than this year, according to the proposal released by the White House, while school choice programs for charter and private schools would see increased funding.
Among the cuts for education would be $2.4 billion for the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program. This cut would completely eliminate the program, which supports professional development for teachers.
The Trump administration states in the budget proposal that the program "is poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact."
Several local districts are recipients of that funding.
Last school year, the Jefferson City Public Schools (JCPS) district was allotted $328,865.73 from the program, with the approval to spend $312,246, according to data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Approximately $17,000 of Jefferson City's funding from the program - Title IIA of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - goes to help local private schools with professional development, said Jason Hoffman, the district's chief operating officer and chief finance officer.
"We use the rest of the money (approximately $300,000) to supplement our Title I program, which funds our preschool at SWECC (Southwest Early Childhood Center) and services at our most disadvantaged elementary schools and both middle schools," Hoffman said. "I don't know that we would cut any of these services. It would be a shift of funding these supports to the local taxpayers."
DESE Communications Coordinator Sarah Potter said districts are not required to budget 100 percent of their funds received.
JCPS is not the only Mid-Missouri school district to receive funding from the program on the chopping block.
- Blair Oaks R-2 had $20,905.36, with approval to spend $20,704.36, in the 2015-16 school year;
- Cole County R-1 (Russellville) had $20,410.58, with approval to spend $19,711.58;
- Cole County R-5 (Eugene) had $40,811.97, with approval to spend $40,414.97;
- Southern Boone County R-1 (Ashland) had $31,263, with approval to spend $30,148;
- Columbia 93 had $783,177.57, with approval to spend $762,386.57.
Trump's initial budget proposal has not been approved and is generally viewed not as a final plan but as an outline.
Fiscal year 2018 spending goes into effect Oct. 1, meaning months of negotiations are likely ahead before Congress ultimately decides on appropriations in next year's budget, according to the Washington Post.