At West Virginia Public School, AFT President Rips Trump Budget Cuts

WAR, W.Va.—Following a tour of a McDowell County, W.Va., community school that provides essential services to help lift its disadvantaged students, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasted President Trump’s proposed budget cuts, which would directly impede the ability of the school to provide many of its programs.

One of the most recent accomplishments of Reconnecting McDowell—a 125-member public-private partnership created by the AFT and Gayle Manchin, now secretary of the West Virginia Education and the Arts Department—is the conversion of Southside K-8 School into a community school with wraparound health and social services and academic support.

“Southside K-8 is a public school in rural, poor McDowell County, whose students depend on federal funding for the additional resources and supports they need to thrive. Today we saw programs that would be axed under the cruel, catastrophic budget cuts the Trump administration wants,” Weingarten said.

Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have proposed a $10.6 billion cut in federal education funding and a more than $1 billion increase for vouchers and other school choice options.

“If Trump and DeVos bothered to venture out to rural McDowell, they would see that public schools are the only choice and that slashing vital investments that directly help students like those at Southside K-8 is like a dagger to the heart,” Weingarten said.

Weingarten noted that McDowell County went for Trump in the November election because voters believed his promises to help the struggling residents economically.

“If education is the economic development engine, which I believe, then cutting public education to smithereens puts the brakes on any possible progress,” she said.

Examples of the impact of Trump’s education budget cuts on McDowell County and the state of West Virginia:

• West Virginia now receives $6 million for after-school programs through 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, which the Trump budget would eliminate. McDowell County receives two grants through the program to provide after-school academic, artistic and cultural enrichment, and supper for students and their families, at all county schools. Southside K-8, for example, uses the money to operate after-school programs four days a week, two hours a day.
• The Trump budget would eliminate all Title II funding, cutting more than $19 million to West Virginia. This funding stream pays for professional development for more than 1,500 educators, funds 71 teaching positions and reduces class sizes. The loss of funding to McDowell County would mean losing 13 full-time teachers or ending professional development programs for nearly 100 teachers.
• The Trump budget plan would eliminate the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program. Just this year, more than 6,000 West Virginia students have received $4 million in tuition assistance.

Since the December 2012 launch of Reconnecting McDowell, the county’s public schools have shown steady improvement:

• In a 2013 county audit, all McDowell public schools were rated as either “emerging” or “accomplished,” and every school was rated “fully compliant” on measures of academic progress.
• The dropout rate fell from 4.5 percent in the 2010-11 school year to 2 percent in 2014-15.
• The high school graduation rate significantly increased from 74 percent in 2011-12 to 80 percent in 2014-15.

At Southside K-8, Weingarten and others saw kids getting dental checks in the SMILES dental van, robotics and yoga classes, a food program, a “shoes and socks” program, mentoring services and an explanation of mental health services that are provided.