How will Education Department cuts impact Prince George’s County?

There is no silver lining in Donald Trump’s assault on the U.S. Department of Education.

The Trump Administration has laid off half of the department’s 4,133-person workforce, paused federal funding, eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and canceled research and teacher preparation grants while promoting funding for private school choice policies. President Trump recently ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to develop a plan to dissolve the agency. 

Slashing the department and farming its responsibilities out to other agencies will likely result in larger class sizes and the erosion of civil rights protections and other support for students with disabilities in the nation’s public schools. Especially harmful for Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and other districts operating under Title I is the prospect of losing vital resources and services aimed at helping low-achieving students meet state academic standards. Currently, the federal government supports Maryland students with roughly $1.5 billion in annual funding or approximately 10% of public school funding in the state. 

Title I and the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP), which sends money to rural and low-income schools, rely on DOE statisticians and data experts who work to determine whether schools qualify for those funds, making it unclear how such grants would remain intact.

All Prince George’s County elementary schools participate in Title I, receiving funds to upgrade the instructional program, design school-wide instructional programming, and incorporate family and parental involvement activities. The loss of such support will impact teachers, administrators, students, and parents.

So what do we do? We fight back!

Lawsuits have already been filed in state and federal courts by unions, school districts, and advocates, including the National Education Association and a coalition of education, civil rights, and school employee groups, which filed a lawsuit arguing that the staff cuts left the agency unable to carry out many of its mandatory functions and put student civil rights in jeopardy.

Fully eliminating the department would require approval from Congress, so it’s important that we make our voices heard by our representatives in Congress and at the state and local levels.

“This potential chaos redoubles the importance of doing all we can in Maryland to strengthen and protect our commitment to our students, especially those coming from backgrounds of poverty, receiving special education services, or who are multilingual learners,” Maryland State Education Association President Paul Lemle said in a statement calling for united action.

Prince George’s County Educators’ Association President Dr. Donna Christy delivered a public statement before the School Board at a recent meeting, laying out the urgent threat facing the district.

“This week, PGCEA joined a broad and powerful coalition—including the National Education Association, the NAACP, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, and public school parents—in filing a lawsuit to stop the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education,” Dr. Christy said. 

“We are sounding the alarm…This is not streamlining—it is sabotage,” Dr. Christy added. “I urge this Board to publicly stand with us by adopting a resolution of support for this legal action—or at the very least, to express your opposition to the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. As a district that has long championed equity, you have a responsibility to join this collective call to defend public education, not only as a civil right, but as a public trust that must not be destroyed by executive overreach. We are not powerless. We are partners in this fight. PGCEA is standing up for students and educators, and we ask Prince George’s County Public Schools to do the same.”