Trump administration quietly cuts funding to the nation's poorest schools

[left-of-center2012]

Thanks to an under-the-radar bookkeeping change at the Department of Education, hundreds of rural schools across the US are set to lose vital funds. The department has changed the eligibility criteria for the Rural and Low-Income School Program, which provides funding for school districts in some of the poorest parts of the country.

The change will make it harder for districts to demonstrate their eligibility, meaning hundreds of them will lose tens of thousands of dollars – and in some cases much more.

Nearly a seventh of the US’s public school pupils live in rural school districts, which have long been poor and underfunded. Many depend on the program to fund everything from anti-bullying initiatives to counselling to language lessons for non-English speakers.

To qualify for the program, school districts must prove that at least 20 per cent of their area’s school-age children live in poverty. Officially, they are required to do so using census data, but because the census often leaves out many people living in rural areas, they have in practice been allowed to cite the percentage of their pupils who qualify for free or subsidized meals.

The department has now abruptly decided that it will only allow districts to use census data, meaning districts will struggle to account for all children in their local areas who would qualify.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-administration-cut-funding-poorest-schools-a9371201.html

[5X]

1. He not only wants to be dictator,

he wants an aristocracy with separation of classes.

[Botany]

2. Gotta pay for that 1/2 a point cut in the interest rates the fed charges the bankers to borrow money

Make the poor people pay so the rich people can get richer.

[Walleye]

3. He can't let these folks get any education

That might wise up and vote for Democrats

[Ilsa]

4. Rural schools? I guess MF45 is trying to keep his

base ignorant. Sadly, they'll be more likely to be lousy farmers and ranchers, making it easier for Big Ag to take over.

So sad. I guess they'll be upset when Biden or Bernie starts getting them more funding.

(BTW, Icame from a rural school.)

[Wounded Bear]

5. And since we're at the end of the census cycle, the data is even more inaccurate...

shrewd move.

[dhill926]

6. rural schools....

probably a majority of voters for the asshole. And they'll no doubt vote for the asshole again. Jesus...keep 'em stupid...

[no_hypocrisy]

7. That means proprty taxes go up to fill the gap

(loss) or the schools decline and/or close.

[Baked Potato]

8. Help is on the way.

[IronLionZion]

9. Screwing his rural American voters before the election

This can be a campaign issue in many swing states. There are rural poor everywhere including PA, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida.

[CRK7376]

10. Thanks trump

that really helps my title 1 school in rural NC where most of our students are of the Black/Hispanic population.