Freezing billions in education funding now isn’t efficient. It just wreaks havoc | Opinion
Detach yourself from DOGE and all its controversy, if just for a moment: Efficiency is a cornerstone of any well-functioning government, a virtue and not a slur.
Meanwhile, shirking smart, sustainable funding that effectively delivers the services we need will fuel frustration with the system, if not outright abandonment. All Americans should want their government to thoughtfully deliberate over how it spends money. Our money.
Evidence that the Department of Education is engaging in intelligent, careful or benevolent review of its budget is scant. On June 30, the department informed officials of nearly $7 billion in funding freezes, leaving administrators on their heels as they navigate toward a new school year that, in Texas, is just a few weeks away. Budgets and plans for how to best educate our children are now in question at the last minute.
We’re not just talking pocket change here: $667 million in funds for Texas schools is frozen and potentially on the chopping block — $10 million of it was earmarked for Fort Worth schools.
We would like to see our schools robustly funded, and can’t help but notice some of the potential cuts, such as federal grant programs supporting “migrant education” and “English language acquisition,” are consistent with President Trump’s ideological leanings and harsh rhetoric on immigration. The Education Department appeared to admit as much in its memo, saying that funds “are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities.”
However, in a vacuum, federal agencies rightfully fall under the executive branch, and Donald Trump is the democratically elected commander-in-chief. And Trump’s secretary of education nominee, wrestling tycoon Linda McMahon, was ultimately confirmed by the Senate. So, we won’t quibble here with what the Trump administration’s Education Department chooses to target, granting that much of how the department operates is within its purview.
It’s the rollout of these possible cuts that demonstrates the problem with the Trump administration’s approach. The $6.8 billion the Education Department put in limbo had received prior congressional approval, calling into question the procedural issues with usurping the federal lawmakers who are also duly elected to represent our interests. Meanwhile, providing such short notice to school districts means that schools did not have the time they deserved to plan accordingly.
Ramming through budget cuts will put every school district in disarray, forcing them to improvise instead of carefully plan around expected changes to their budgets. What could have been a smooth transition to a public education model reflective of “the President’s priorities” instead delivered a shock to the system. Students and educators needlessly bear the brunt of those decisions.
But, back to the concept of efficiency, which is sometimes the rationale for drastic budget reductions. If schools were run like a business, giving ample notice and following reasonable procedure would be understood as the correct way to ensure any changes are minimally disruptive.
What makes these potential cuts more ominous is that education is not a business; it’s a public good that we, as a country, invest in to ensure all children have equal access to becoming healthy, productive, and secure members of society. Either way, freezing millions for education without warning is no way to run a business or an education system.
Recklessly impeding our schools from fulfilling their mission will shatter trust in the entire institution, which is anything but efficient. Unless efficiency was never the point.
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 10:17 AM.