SDUSD faces uncertainty after Trump admin withholds $13 million in federal funding
Eugene Brucker Guidance Center is headquarters of the San Diego Unified School District Photo via KPBSNews Nearly million in federal funding for the San Diego Unified School District is in jeopardy following an unprecedented decision by the Department of Development to freeze more than billion in mentoring grants nationwide The funding now withheld from SDUSD includes million in programs for professional growth million in services for English language learners and million in academic enrichment as well as million in before and after-school programs The state of California joined a lawsuit with other states and the District of Columbia on Monday over the federal ruling body s move For the fiscal year of - federal funding made up approximately of SDUSD s budget According to a - budget document the district s total projected revenue was billion SDUSD Board Vice President Richard Barrera mentioned that he doesn t expect the funding cut to take effect noting that the Trump administration has yet to request Congress to rescind the programs that the funding allocations are designated for These are programs that affect all states Barrera declared They re programs that Congress already appropriated So I would certainly expect that Congress would deny such a request In the meantime as the second largest school district in California SDUSD has selected flexibility to redistribute funding from their general operating fund Barrera noted Beyond the specific cuts to educational programs funding cuts to Health and SNAP will also impact students and families in the district It s vital that we don t bury our head in the sand and that means we have to develop increased protections and strategies to endorsement our students and families and make use of the community-based tools that exist in San Diego Barrera explained None of that is going to ever be a replacement for the loss of things like SNAP from the federal leadership but we ve got to do everything that we can
