From Abington to Central Bucks, teachers protest over potential Trump budget cuts
Demonstrations in Abington and Central Bucks, as well as nationally, cited the uncertainty around the U.S. Education Department.
A second-grade teacher in the Abington School District, Debbie Lee worries about the potential impact on kids in her classroom if federal funding is cut as part of sweeping changes to the U.S. Department of Education.
Funding from the federal Title I program, for instance, enables schools to provide students with more individualized support in reading and math, Lee said — “which is imperative for us to do our job.”
On Wednesday morning, Lee, the president of the Abington Education Association, led a “walk-in” protest outside an elementary school in her district for similarly worried teachers — hoping to send a message to federal lawmakers that they need to preserve education funding as President Donald Trump moves to dismantle the federal Education Department.
“If we don’t raise our voices when our students’ needs” are at risk, Lee said in an interview, “who will do it?”
Similar protests — in which teachers gathered outside their schools, then walked inside together — were held around the region, including in Central Bucks, and across the country before school Wednesday, as part of an effort by the National Education Association to draw attention to the uncertainty surrounding the Education Department and the billions of dollars it awards to schools.
Last week, the department laid off more than 1,000 people, reducing its staff to nearly half its size at the start of the year. Trump has said he wants to eliminate the department entirely, giving more power to states and parents.
So far, the department has not announced any reduction in the main funding streams it awards to K-12 schools. But some local officials are concerned about the department’s ability to distribute money, given its gutted staff. The Trump administration has also threatened to cut funding to schools over diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. And given the president’s aim to ultimately close the department, advocates say, school funding could be at stake.
“The concern we have … is they’re going to make the functions of that department impossible to execute,” said Adam Clark, region advocacy coordinator for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Even if the federal government does not cut funding, he said, “there could be interruptions.”
Federal funding accounts for a relatively small share of K-12 school budgets, which in Pennsylvania are funded primarily by local property taxes and state aid. In Abington, non-stimulus federal funding accounted for 2.1%, or $3.6 million, of district revenues in 2023; in Central Bucks, that total was 1.7%, or $6.5 million. (Federal money for free and reduced lunches accounted for 35% of food service revenues in Central Bucks that year, and 50% in Abington, according to the PSEA.)
Some of Pennsylvania’s poorest districts, however, rely more on federal money; Philadelphia, for instance, gets about 10% of its funding from the federal government.
“Our system has been under-resourced systematically for far too long,” said Blithe Riley, a Philadelphia parent who organized a walk-in Wednesday at C.W. Henry Elementary School in Mount Airy. Any cuts to the Department of Education would “exacerbate already existing inequities,” Riley said.
School leaders say what federal funding covers is crucial — including through Title I, the program that sends added money to schools with high concentrations of poor students, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, for students with special needs.
And cuts to federal education funding would affect more than just district schools, Clark said. Pennsylvania’s intermediate units, which rely more heavily on federal money, provide services not only to districts, but also to charter schools and private schools. Intermediate units employ special education staff, including psychologists and speech language pathologists, and also provide early intervention services for children ages 3 to 5.
In 2023, 16.6% of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit’s revenues came from federal non-stimulus money, according to the PSEA; the share for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit was 26.4%.
In Central Bucks, walk-ins were held Wednesday outside all district schools, with about 40 staff members per building participating, said Cara Alderfer, president of the Central Bucks Education Association.
The district’s superintendent, Steven Yanni, had sent community members a message earlier in the week, informing them of the plans and instructing that “only school staff will be permitted on school property during the times the walk-ins are taking place” — adding that anyone who did not comply would be referred to police. (A district spokesperson, Michael Petitti, said Wednesday there were “no reported issues involving unauthorized people on school property” or other disruptions during or after the walk-ins.)
In Abington, Lee, the union president, said the demonstration was not intended to be partisan.
“Our students matter,” she said. “Unfortunately, legislators make decisions and don’t understand how it affects us at home.”