With President Donald Trump’s election in 2024, there have been many changes to the federal government recently. These changes beg the question: how will this affect education?

Federal cuts to education have thus far affected how much control the federal government has over where money goes in education. The Salida School District Superintendent, Doctor David Blackburn stated, “They cut bureaucracy, but the money is still flowing to be able to spend it on the kid.” The federal government has threatened organizations such as DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), but there have been no changes occurring to follow up on those threats thus far. 

Blackburn explained that money is still being routed to schools, it is just being sent through state governments, rather than being federally controlled. This puts decisions back into the hands of the state, and allows states to have more control over where funding is put into. Cutting out federal oversight of schools is not inherently bad or good, it all depends on what the state decides to do with the money. Blackburn explained, “the issue is; are the dollars going to continue to help the families or the neighborhoods that are less affluent, or are they gonna reroute those dollars and give them to the affluent.” Money is still being sent to the states for use in education, the oversight has just been cut. “I think it is cutting the federal government out of those conversations, which isn’t the same thing as killing those conversations,” said Blackburn.

The issues surrounding the debates over federal cuts are often reported on by the news in a way that causes drama to spread. “Since the onset of 24 hour news, news no longer is interested in facts,” Blackburn said. He encouraged everyone to take responsibility and sift through the false news to form their own opinion. One example of teaching people to not fall into the group-think of the modern age is the Senior Seminar requirement at the High School. The reason why classes such as Senior Seminar exist in schools is to help kids learn to formulate their own opinions, and participate in civil discussions. “So this is why public education for all is so important. Not public education for those who can afford it, but for all. It really is missional . . . that you, as a kid, can access the information yourself and think for yourself,” Blackburn said.

While concerns surrounding cuts to education are not completely unfounded, the Salida School District is protected from any future negative effects of government shifts in education because the community is well-prepared. While this whole change has been incredibly scary for the whole education community, Blackburn is confident that Salida will not face any extremely negative consequences. Blackburn said, “Our community is not in crisis because we’ve done a good job of preparing.”