Trump’s proposed cuts to federal education budget alarm Avossa
Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa this past week criticized President Trump’s proposed education budget, saying that his plan to eliminate a federal grant program for teacher training and development would hamper efforts to reform the county’s public schools.
Trump, who through property taxes paid $190,000 to the county’s schools and other municipal governments this past year, might be putting efforts to improve the schools in peril by proposing the cuts, Avossa said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.
“We’re worried,” Avossa said. “We’re worried about cuts to any (federal education) dollars.”
Overall, Trump is proposing to cut the federal education department’s budget by 13.5 percent, or $9.2 billion, including money for teacher training and summer and after-school programs, The Atlantic reported.
Avossa said his primary concern is Trump’s proposal to eliminate a $450 million grant program that distributes money to help struggling public schools better train and recruit teachers.
The program, known as Title II, or the “Supporting Effective Instruction State Grant” program, would be completely eliminated under Trump’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Education.
Palm Beach County schools are expected to receive $8.3 million from that grant program next year, with the money used in part to pay the salaries of supervisors and curriculum specialists who help improve teachers’ performance in the classroom.
Though that’s a small portion of the school district’s $2.4 billion annual budget, some of Avossa’s moves to restructure the school