Metro East educators, representatives from teachers unions and a local congresswoman say they are worried about what President Donald Trump’s proposal to shutter the U.S. Department of Education could mean for local schools.
Trump has said he wants Congress to close the department. It administers 8.5% of Illinois’ revenue each year, according to the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
“This would be devastating to public education in Illinois,” U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, who represents much of the Metro East in Congress, said at a meeting with teachers, union officials and others in Fairview Heights on Monday.
If federal dollars were to disappear, Budzinski and educators said teaching positions could be cut, making classroom sizes bigger. There would be fewer resources for students with special needs, and summer programs could end, they said.
“People need to understand the impact is real, and it's local,” Budzinski said. “It's not this abstract Washington, D.C., jargon. This is going to really negatively impact our communities.”
At the heart of the federal funding in question is the Education Department program called Title I, which provides money for districts in lower-income communities.
In fiscal 2023, Illinois received almost $767 million through that program.
“Once the money’s cut, paraprofessionals are probably going to be the first, and then teaching jobs are going to be second,” said Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, secretary and treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
If the Education Department is closed, that doesn’t necessarily mean all federal money would disappear immediately. Title I predates the Education Department, meaning it would take a separate act of Congress to end the program. Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint, does call for Title I funding to be decreased.
Trump’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, said last week at her confirmation hearing that she’d preserve Title I money.
Getting Congress to act on either proposal may also be difficult with narrow Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.
East St. Louis District 189 received $6.7 million through Title I for fiscal 2025, according to the district’s budget. Two years prior, federal funding more broadly made up nearly 20% of the district’s revenue, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Several East St. Louis teachers said Monday they were concerned about what that money going away could mean for the district. Benitta Evans, a fifth grade teacher, said her position is completely funded through Title I.
“I thought about the kids losing their services,” Evans said. “And then I thought about how Title I was going to affect me and my coworkers and our district.”
Evans, who grew up in East St. Louis and moved back to the area five years ago to teach, said the district’s students wouldn’t get the individual attention they need if teaching positions get cut because Title I funding went away. In her eyes, more people in the community need to better understand what the impact is going to be.
“As a person who's currently working a second job to make sure that my household is able to function in a way that a household should function, I worry about it,” she said.
