During the Trump administration, conversations of defunding and shutting down the Department of Education have arisen. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education to aid public schools around the country with federal dollars. This funding pays for programs to assist students and provide quality instruction despite any disability that might stand in their way.
As the department has begun cutting staff and withholding funds as well as grants, the school district of Nixa has begun to prepare for a possible loss of federal funding. This year, Nixa was granted $5 million in federal funds. Nixa Superintendent Dr. Gearl Loden said losing the provided money would negatively impact the school district.
“We would have to make some very difficult decisions about staffing and other things,” Loden said. “Over 80 percent of our budget is just [paying] people. The bulk of it is going to our classrooms and classroom support. If we have $5 million to be cut, we would not be able to make it up. We just don’t have that capability.”
That $5 million makes up 5.9 percent of the total income for the Nixa School District. The amount of federal funding the average school in Missouri almost triples that number at 14.36 percent. The remainder of the money comes from the state and local property taxes that is also funded towards roads, highways and public safety.
“The federal dollars that we have are kind of the icing on the cake,” Loden said. “If you look at the big picture, they are a small part, but they allow us to add a lot of value and benefit in meeting the needs for our children.”
The money from the federal Department of Education has strings attached. With the acceptance of federal aid, rules set by every president are expected to be followed. For districts to stay in compliance with meeting educational goals, equal education opportunities for every student must be met.
“As a taxpayer, if we have the dollars that are allocated to be used for children that have special needs, English language learners and children in poverty, then you want to have [regulations] around them and how you can use them and ensure that the states are using them legally,” Loden said.
While the dismantling of the department has already begun, some may be disconcerted over the concept of what losing a federal agency under one presidency might do to the United States.
“People get confused because the media makes it sound like there is a lot of things going on,” Loden said. “In essence, you can shake things up, you can cut departments back, you can lay off people, but at the end of the day, we have checks and balances. The big thing as far as the dollars, you [have]to have the votes. The president and the administration [do] not have the votes and they are not going to have the votes. [The executive branch] can shut it down, but they don’t have control of the funding. … The dollars are legislated by the House and Senate. Congress makes the laws, and they have the power of the purse.”
Nixa Public Schools appeals to those with children who require special education or educational support. A large amount of funding to the district goes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) program.
“We have a higher percentage of our students that have even more severe needs than a lot of other districts,” Loden said. “I think because of the reputation of our program, we have more people moving in that say, ‘OK, my child really needs extra help, I’m going to move to Nixa.’ ”
The average Nixa student’s education cost is $10,000 from kindergarten to graduation. After additional needs are included, anything in excess over $30,000 is aided by the Department of Education.
“Fifty to 60 students in our district cost more than three times what our average student cost is,” Karen McKnight, executive director of special services, said. “As long as IDEA is still on the books as a law, there is going to be some kind of funding that needs to come with it. I think that would be really hard to cut entirely.”
In preparation for a possible reduction in funds, McKnight said she altered the regular schedule of requesting government funds for her department.
“I typically will wait ’till the end of the year and request it all at once,” McKnight said. “With the threat of a shutdown, I’m going to start requesting what we have spent earlier. I can get what is owed to us now in case they decide they are not going to have the money to pay us later on.”
This year is not the first time that staff and administrators have worried about what is to come. In 2019, when the first few cases of COVID-19 hit Missouri, difficult decisions about program priorities flooded administrations.
“Our society has lived through these things before, but there is always that ‘What if,’ so you just try to prepare as much as you can ahead of time,” McKnight said. “Coming back from the COVID shutdown, I wasn’t able to replace all of our [paraprofessional] positions because we didn’t know what our money outlook was going to be like. When everything reopened, we were slow to rehire. … Do I fill every vacancy once it happens? Maybe not. Not getting rid of people, but when people leave positions, just not replacing the position.”
Paraprofessionals (paras) offer individualized help to students who need additional support in the classroom.
“The federal money we receive, we have an option on how we want to utilize that,” McKnight said. “For us in our district, it makes a lot of sense to put it towards para salaries.”
The district of Nixa also supports students from all over the world. The English Language Learners program provides refugee, international and second language learning students with education in English speech, literature and ways of living.
“This school year we currently have 373 students who are second language learners who are being served by four EL teachers and four paraprofessionals.” Michell Ames, English Language Learner teacher at Nixa public schools, said. “My job is to help students from other countries or those who are second language learners to become familiar with Nixa schools and learn English so that they are able to be successful, productive U.S. citizens.”
Nixa Public Schools offers individualized learning to all of its students, and plans to continue to do so, with or without federal government requirements.
“Within what we can control, we just make sure our kids get what they need,” McKnight said. “If we don’t have teachers, we don’t educate kids. We would make some really hard decisions to make sure it didn’t come down to people losing current positions. It’s best for kids, it’s best for learning. That’s what our professional learning community is about, regardless, providing those supports to any student, making sure that they can get those essential skills mastered at each level.”
