The Trump administration is working to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. The two largest funding sources it oversees for public schools are Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi looked at how that money is used by local schools.
[kids talking, writing in classroom]
Inside a classroom at Bluestone Elementary in Harrisonburg, three students sat with Teacher Alexandra Vazquez, working on reading and writing the letter "r."
ALEXANDRA VAZQUEZ: This is a picture of a –
KIDS: Red crayon.
VAZQUEZ: Very good! Okay, let's look at some words that begin with "rr." For example, this is the word –
KIDS: Rat.
VAZQUEZ: Repeat?
KIDS: Rat.
VAZQUEZ: Good! This is the word –
KIDS: Run.
This is one of 12 groups in an after-school program where students who need extra help in reading or math get individualized attention. Title I funds are allocated to schools with high numbers of students from low-income families. Here, they pay for teachers to work these extra hours outside of the normal school day.
PETER NORMENT: What students are really working on at this level is phonics and decoding.
Peter Norment is the principal here.
NORMENT: So if they're working on, say, a consonant-vowel-consonant word, like cat, or hat, then the text that they would be practicing reading is full of those patterns.
Teachers can recommend students to the once-a-week after-school program if their reading or math scores are falling behind, and their families agree for the kids to participate.
Nine-year-old Junior Leanos Peralta really likes science and math –
JUNIOR LEANOS PERALTA: I'm learning about trapezoids. … And then in science, this happened on Friday, but a teacher came to my room for a science experiment. She put blue food coloring in the water …
But comes to the after-school program to work on his –
PERALTA: Reading.
HAGI: What are you reading?
PERALTA: Nothing. [pauses, Hagi laughs] I try to learn, because I'm not in the same level as all my other friends.
Vazquez is a kindergarten teacher by day, but works with third and fourth graders after school.
VAZQUEZ: This is a skill that you need for the rest of your life, and knowing my own family members that didn't get the extra practice, and how much they would have benefitted from having this, I think seeing this within students, I'm like, okay, I want to make sure that they don't feel alone, or like they can't do these things, when they can, and I'm willing to offer my knowledge and help them grasp what they need to know and apply that.
Harrisonburg City Public Schools received about $1.6 million in Title I and $1.5 million in IDEA funds this fiscal year. WMRA analyzed the allocations going to 16 school districts in the Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville area. On the high end, bigger districts such as Albemarle, Frederick, and Rockingham counties receive $4.9 million to $5.5 million apiece between the two funds.
Journey Middle School in Albemarle County uses IDEA funds to pay for a special education teacher and two teaching assistants who are specially trained to work with students with autism.
Ashby Johnson is the middle school principal. She gave an example of one student who transferred in from the Virginia Institute of Autism last year.
JOHNSON: We started him on a half day, just to get him used to being in a comprehensive middle school setting … and he was just given a lot of support both academically and socially, emotionally, in how to navigate the middle school. … Now he's one of our full-time students … and that program was crucial in making sure that he was able to be successful in the school that he should be attending based on where he lives.
Harrisonburg also uses their IDEA funding to pay for special education staff – 11 teachers and six instructional assistants across K-12. Ken Hill, the director of special education services, said the district offers a wide range of support to its roughly 750 students with an IEP, or Individualized Education Program.
KEN HILL: Reading, math, written language, behavior, social skills, personal daily skills depending on the complex needs, we provide occupational therapy, physical therapy. There's assistive technology support that's also provided. It could be adaptive physical education.
Tripp Gibson's 10-year-old son, Emmett, gets speech therapy, occupational therapy, and musical therapy through his public elementary school.
TRIPP GIBSON: The physical therapy is great. He's gone from when he first started school, he wasn't walking. … We're just now getting to the point where he walks up steps!
Two of the things Emmett loves are being around other people and the comedic rock band The Aquabats.
GIBSON: We don't have low expectations for Emmett. Our expectations for Emmett are the same as our other two kids.
Gibson said the teachers and therapists at Emmett's school have been crucial to his growth and development.
GIBSON: We know what is said about our kids. We want them to be productive members of society, and we know that getting this funding from IDEA is the access we need to get those opportunities, to not only make it through school, but for when we transition to adulthood, that we can get a job, that we can live independently. … That starts with our school and our special education.
NPR reports the Trump administration has promised funds like Title I and IDEA, which are protected by law, will be preserved – albeit administered by other federal agencies, and without the data experts who determine which schools qualify for how much money.
