The Trump administration has frozen $6 billion in Department of Education funding that affects a wide swath of programs. Roanoke's public school system will be especially hard hit because of its high rates of economically disadvantaged students and English learners.
The city's school system is still figuring out the details, but based on last year's programs, could be facing roughly $3.8 million in frozen federal funding.
"That's a very significant amount of money," says Kathleen Jackson, the school system's chief financial officer. "Because either they were competitive grants or they were entitlement funds, we were counting on them. Suddenly not having them is a bit of a challenge."
That funding includes money for summer and afterschool programs, staff development, English learning programs, student support, and adult education. This money is especially important in Roanoke city schools because of their demographics, says Claire Mitzel, the system's director of communication.
"We are an urban school division," Mitzel says. "We have about 14,000 students. 70% of our families are considered economically disadvantaged. Nearly 20% of our students are English learners. We have a significant number of students with disabilities whose families choose to live in Roanoke because of the services we offer."
Elizabeth Shenkel supervises programs for English learners. Federal funding for these programs, she says, is crucial for ensuring the school system meets guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"We work hard to make sure we are in compliance with the law," Shenkel says. "The Title III funds are meant to help us stay in compliance with the law. Not having that funding puts us in a difficult position, right? because we ant to be compliant. We need that funding to be able to continue to do so."
English language programs will continue regardless of the freeze. Federal lawmakers said Friday that some money would soon be unfrozen. That's not official, yet, and doesn't cover all of the money that's been frozen. In the meantime, the school system continues to look for ways to cover the funding gap.
