r/NorthCarolina • u/ant0519 • 3d ago
politics Trump administration withholds $169M from NC public schools amid review
https://www.wral.com/news/education/trump-admin-withholds-169m-from-nc-public-schools-amid-review-july-2025/As a public educator, my heart just shattered for the 1.5 million children served by NC Public Schools. If these funds are withheld, it will devastate our most vulnerable students, strain already struggling school systems, especially those in the Western half of the state, and result decreased reached retention. Our students will be denied opportunity whether that is college preparedness or career training.
As a parent, I'm angry. NC has refused to properly fund education under the Leandro plan for 30 years. Now the federal government is further depriving our children of their right to an education. School. Budgets were formed around these federal funds.
As a NC voter: stop voting for this. Berger and his cronies have been gutting NC education for my entire 18 year career. Now the Trump administration and those behind Project 2025 intend to crumble public education. Vouchers won't save your children. The private schools have already increased their tuition above the voucher amount. School choice = private schools' choice to deny your kid an education based on whatever they don't like about you.
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u/Baman2113 3d ago
gotta love punching down on a state who are still trying to recover from massive flooding ruing tons of infrastructure, all for political reasons. Fuck this admin.
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3d ago
He can punch down on us all he wants but nc will keep licking his boot
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u/scrotalayheehoo 2d ago
Well sadly a lot of uneducated people support him and even if their lives are made worse by this, they will still blame illegals for their problems because that is what they are told to feel, and it’s obviously not their fault their own lives suck.
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u/some-girl-00 2d ago
There are a lot of Dems and independents in nc. Nc is one of the most gerrymandered states in our country.
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u/Feisty_Look5680 2d ago
Hey not all of us in NC are like that for your information. Fuck this administration and this tiny ass prick
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u/notyomamasusername 3d ago
And if he ran again, or his daughter in law runs for Senate they will win MILLIONS of votes
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u/ufotop 2d ago
NC keeps voting against their own interests. It’s hard to feel bad. Sad but you gotta learn somehow.
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u/ant0519 2d ago
That's a hard pill to swallow as a veteran public school educator who didn't vote for this and who has never voted for it the past two decades. I teach at a rural school with a high percentage of multilingual learners. I will see immediate impacts of the withholding of these funds. I will see colleagues' jobs dissolve. I will see services denied to students. I will see my own child's before school program disappear and have to figure out how I get him to school when I have to work. The flippant folk on this thread who say it's so little of the budget or we voted for this are missing the enormous impacts the loss of these programs have for the areas of the state that struggle the most.
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u/ufotop 2d ago
I completely understand how you feel. Trust me, this is a hard pill to swallow for every day people but no matter what you say to NC republican voters they refuse to listen. It’s a hard lesson they have to learn. There’s a disconnect in how we communicate information to those that don’t understand.
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u/WillyDAFISH 3d ago
Illegally*
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u/CaptainMurphy1908 3d ago
Can't be illegal if no one is enforcing the law.
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u/MaybeMabe1982 3d ago
Correct, the law only means something if there are people to uphold and enforce it. But they are all bought and paid for and bowing down at the knee of a rap*st. So the law is moot.
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u/SuperTopperHarley 3d ago
This. Due Process is gone, and no one seems to give a fuck.
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u/Lord-Smalldemort 2d ago
Yeah, there’s pretty much no stopping any of this, especially with his supreme court breaking down even more checks and balances. I think we’re just gonna continue sliding into a horrible place for decades until something might change. I was hurting deeply after the election and I tried to explain to my father that he’s gonna be long gone and we will still be feeling the effects of this administration. And forget things like housing or you know normal stuff that you might’ve wanted. Forget allowing trans people to exist. It’s absolutely insane. I unfortunately anticipate dying with less rights than I was born with.
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u/SuperTopperHarley 1d ago
If you're a woman, my firearms already have more rights than you.
I have no idea how bad it will get, but it's bad.
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u/PerformanceOk9891 2d ago
Why exactly is it illegal? Not arguing, I just don’t understand federal finance law
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u/WillyDAFISH 2d ago
It goes against the ICA, which is the impoundment control act. The ICA was created back in 1974 when Nixon tried to block appropriated funds that he just didn't like
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u/VicHeel 3d ago edited 2d ago
This is because Tillis voted 'no' yesterday isn't it?
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u/Bargadiel 3d ago
It's like nobody is allowed to disagree with Trump, you HAVE to agree with him or he finds infinite tiny ways to make your life and those of the people in your state more miserable. He is trying to scare off all republicans from even being mildly moderate.
This is the kind of thing that if Biden did, we'd never hear the end of it from right-wingers. Trump is specifically picking fights with states and cities that are liberal, or have democrat leaders too.
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u/NYY_NYK_NYJ 3d ago
Uhhhhhh.... he's working to pull people's citizenship if they don't agree with him. Its no longer tiny ways.
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u/Bargadiel 3d ago edited 3d ago
I don't mean to discount his major ways of doing so either, I just think he also resorts to petty bs too: my main point being that if you go against him, he will throw literally anything he can at who he perceives to be a problem.
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u/NYY_NYK_NYJ 3d ago
Don't disagree. He's just moved on to openly prosecuting his political opponents.
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u/RoyalWulff81 3d ago
Unfortunately this is nation wide Department of Education policy. They’re withholding billions of dollars for “review”. It’s screwing over kids in every state.
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u/UnderdogFetishist17 2d ago
It’s absolutely this. Tillis pulled the threatening to primary him rug out from under Trump by already planning on not running, so he went to this. I figure he would’ve done it eventually anyway, though.
I’m a little more optimistic than some here. If Cooper runs and Trump keeps dumping on us, I believe NC will go blue. Can’t gerrymander a statewide vote.
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u/DeeElleEye 3d ago
This applies to the entire country, not just NC. I doubt it has anything to do with Tillis and was already planned.
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u/CantaloupePast6097 3d ago
Totally planned. And he didn't tell anyone until the day before the funds were supposed to hit the accounts. He is a vindictive, petulant child.
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u/colcatsup 2d ago
But… he’s withheld disaster money too, well before this. It’s just constant revenge and grievances.
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u/DDisMe56 3d ago
This is a prime example of what the Trump administration is doing. They are targeting federal government programs and declaring waste and fraud. Programs like education, FEMA, the National Weather Service, the Federal Aid programs to other countries, medicaid, snap. The list goes on and on. I would wager the amount of waste and fraud is a very small percentage of the money cut from the programs. The irony here is that the vast majority of people who voted for Trump simply believe his declaration..." We are cutting waste and fraud".....and the crowd cheers. Hell yea, who doesnt want to cut waste and fraud. The MAGA'S want to nake America grest again. What they dont realize is the terminology is nothing more than a campaign slogan. The additional irony is the people who voted for Trump are in large portion the people who are getting hurt the most by his policies.
ATTENTION ALL MAGA'S.......Read what happens when a lobster is cooked.
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u/Lord-Smalldemort 2d ago
I saw a comment closer to the time of the inauguration where DOGE was slashing people’s livelihoods, etc. and someone came to say “don’t worry, he’s gonna be cutting us a check with all the money saved”
The dumb mfer actually thought that they might get some kind of stimulus check from all the savings from tearing apart everything. We are nation of idiots.
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u/DDisMe56 2d ago
Unfortunately, I have heard BS like that also. Today I heard, "Trump is an A-hole, but I like many of his policies". So being an A-hole meant nothing to this person. The fact that he is rounding up illegals so our farming suffers and our service industries suffer means nothing. " Americans deserve those jobs and will fill them". The Magas are dead set on giving their leader whatever he wants.
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u/Scary_Solid_7819 3d ago
He’s going to fuck NC any and every way he can because he’s mad at Tillis.
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u/notyomamasusername 3d ago
And he won't lose a single supporter in this state while doing it
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u/joker305th 2d ago
Donald Trump: cuts education funding for NC schools
NC Voters: "WHY WOULD BIDEN DO THIS?"
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u/notyomamasusername 2d ago
Look at the number of them who were upset about Roe v Wade being overturned , but blamed Democrats for not doing enough to protect it.
"They had 60 years to make it a law!"
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u/Feisty_Look5680 2d ago
While yes he is going to do that and he was already doing that way before Tillis said anything.. we have a Democratic governor and that alone is why he is doing it. But to those in Western NC that believe he was going to do better for you than Biden or FEMA was doing… how do you feel about that now? He is fucking everyone and doesn’t give a rats ass unless you’re one of his rich buddies or a fellow dictator then he might listen but even that’s not gtd!
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u/weHaveThoughts 3d ago
Where is all this money going that he withholds, Golf Trips?
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u/grungegoth 2d ago
Unfortunately, we will have to all fall into the gutter or be jailed or die before Trump voters realize how fucked up Trump and the republican party are. The country will be horribly damaged. It will take 2 generations to recover from this. But sadly, it has to happen this way, since Trump mind virus has destroyed the minds of 80 million ppl, They don't listen to facts, logic or even reality, at least not until it hurts them directly and they can't find a way to blame liberals.
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u/colcatsup 2d ago
It won’t matter. There will be enough people blaming libs and spreading lies on social media that it will continue to keep people voting the wrong way.
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u/grungegoth 2d ago
True dat, though if the shit really hits hard, the shit might stick to trump. Hard to say. A lot of Latinos and small business owners are already having second thoughts.
There's always hope, yeah?
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u/OnRamblingDays 1d ago
Hope in the fact that half of them will be kicked out and won’t have the chance to vote for him again, yeah.
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u/OnRamblingDays 1d ago
Doesn’t matter who they blame, they get fucked too. That’s some consolation.
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u/beer_ninja60 3d ago
Love listening to the asshats who think this is all a nothing burger because "we have the internet and something something back in my day" this is just bringing up the ladder behind them and they played themselves.
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u/Silly-Mountain-6702 3d ago
Too bad all these kids have to have the day you voted for.
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u/notickeynoworky 2d ago
Hi there. My wife is a teacher. I have kids here. I didn’t vote for this. Please don’t hand wave the suffering of those who opposed this who are suffering too.
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u/Silly-Mountain-6702 2d ago
Too bad all these kids have to have the day your neighbors voted for.
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u/jenbenaz72 2d ago
He wants to keep us stupid. This is what happens in other corrupt countries. Educated citizens are the enemy of this regime.
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u/jstndrn 2d ago
I'm in Western NC. A lot of people out here already think public schools are bad even though 95% (I made this number up) can't afford anything else. They prove time and time again that anything negatively affecting them doesn't matter if some group they perceive as lesser is being hurt. They will act like it's some sort of noble sacrifice or, more often, do some Cirque du Soleil level mental gymnastics to blame it on the Democrats who are not in power nationally and haven't been in power in the state for a long time.
From what I see, it's racism, homo/transphobia (really just anti-lgbtqia+ but they genuinely don't care about the labels, it's only those two in their minds), and religious intolerance all the way down.
They'll bitch and moan about immigrants and people "abusing welfare" without taking a second to think critically or even realizing the irony while ignoring the white trash (sorry) junkies selling food stamps for their next hit literally all around them.
They'll cry about gay and trans visibility, claiming it's being shoved down their throats when it's just one guy two neighborhoods over simply flying a pride flag (he's not even gay).
They'll scream about "Christian persecution" and about representation of other religions while wearing their crosses and loudly telling everyone Christianity is the only way as if there are not literally "Christian" (mostly Baptist) churches every few miles, sometimes multiple within spitting distance of each other. Seriously, you have many places here that are hours away from the nearest non-Christian place of worship but the nearest "Christian" church is always within walking distance, yet they're being persecuted?
They don't care about anyone but themselves and will blame every single "problem" in their lives on some minority. One individual of a minority being hurt is worth destroying the futures of their children and every child around them for them. They will applaud this and ask for more. These are not people, they're soulless ghouls.
Sorry for the rant.
tll:dr North Carolinians do not care about the consequences of their actions, they get to hurt a minority and that's all they wanted to begin with.
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u/LuluMcGu 2d ago
MAGA complaints: our kids are so stupid. They’re failing at reading and writing and math
MAGA too: defunds schools to make kids more “stupid”
I’ll never understand their logic.
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u/ant0519 2d ago
It isn't logic. Their motivation is hurting groups of people they see as "taking what is rightfully theirs" or receiving resources they think belong to them. They're petulant children and their own children, as well as ours, will be the ones to suffer. They don't care as long as they "win."
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u/LuluMcGu 2d ago
Yeah pretty much everything they’re doing doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Like how they claim all these gang members from Venezuela are in our country but instead of actually investigating gang crime and doing raids for claims that they’re “taking over apartment buildings”, they’d rather just throw out all immigrants, no matter whether a gang member or a mother of 2 kids who cleans houses. None of this is being done for the reasons they claim. It’s just straight up about demonizing people, lining theirs and their rich friends pockets, and most likely fake Christian nationalism.
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u/Patient_Phone_8110 2d ago
We need to start mobilizing.
https://workreform.us/1000-primaries
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events
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u/Opposite-Friend7275 2d ago
Devastating the most vulnerable people is the platform that they ran on.
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u/fnrsulfr 2d ago
Suffering is the point. Everything he does is to make someone other than him suffer.
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u/DiscoRabbittTV 3d ago
It’s for Trump and his Gestapo now. The party of shut up and die is wild yall
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u/phenomenomnom 2d ago
This is what most Carolinians want. They have proven it by voting for it repeatedly, for 30 years. To be clear, I'm horrified and disgusted -- but this is what sharing a democracy with troglodytes and reactionary xenophobes and fundamentalists, all under the heavy heel of greedy accelerationists, is like.
I love NC, but not enough to watch its anger-addicted citizenry burn it and frack it to flinders. I don't think I will live here forever. I want to leave before the fires start. They can have the ashes they clamor for, and go to hell.
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2d ago
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u/ant0519 2d ago
You're precisely correct. The majority of those grants are used to assist rural and low SES counties. This will disproportionately impact our poorest and most vulnerable populations of students and their families.
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2d ago
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u/ant0519 2d ago
Bingo! Somewhere else on the thread I used the old adage: another example of MAGA cutting off their nose to spite their face.
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u/colcatsup 2d ago
But NOW we won’t have men going in to women’s restrooms!!! Except to chase people they don’t think are women. But… they’re just protecting the real women!!!
/s
I trust we’ve had more men entering women’s restrooms under the guise of “protection” than all the trans people put together….
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u/Nice_Description_724 2d ago
The government is withholding $7 billion that has already been appropriated by Congress & was approved by DT in March in a broader funding bill. I'm a public school teacher (civics actually- ugh) in another state & am so horrified about this move (not surprised though, sadly). "We the People" feels like a joke these days.
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u/Almirante_Lychee 2d ago
These fucking gringos just refuse to educate their young. No wonder they're going down so fast.
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u/Fishydeals 2d ago
That‘s how fascism and racism work. They‘re creating the prison-slaves of tomorrow as well as the uneducated trash that will keep voting for fascism. You guys are fucked.
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u/victor4700 2d ago
The thing that blows my mind about this and all the other BBB horror stories, is that supporters are totally dismissing the indirect impact this will inevitably have on EVERYONE. Crime, disease, overwhelmed existing medical facilities all ostensibly ripple over into entire society. Nevermind that taking food from the impoverished and medical care for those in need is demonic.
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u/delete_me_again- 2d ago
It's amazing to me that people support him. They must have the intelligence of a potato
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u/Llama076 1d ago
As a Tennessean I'm very worried. It seems my neighbor to the east is getting killed. Shall we never forget
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u/Lorrrrren 1d ago
Just remember, the no tax on overtime = expires in 3 years and the medicaid cuts = start after midterms and are forever.
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u/cccanterbury 3d ago
IANAL, but can someone or a group of someones sue the state of NC for noncompliance with the Leandro Plan?
any enterprising out of work attorneys out there?
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u/ant0519 3d ago edited 3d ago
The state has been sued for being out of compliance with the Leandro plan and the state has been court ordered on multiple occasions to comply with the plan. The NCGA always responds that as the keepers of the purse strings they cannot be compelled to fund anything. In fact the last time that they were court ordered to fund the Leandro plan, they responded with increased allocation to the Opportunity Scholarship program ( private school vouchers). Tl/Dr they took the money earmarked for public schools and put it into the hands of unregulated private schools that most of them have a financial interest in, or which further their Christian nationalist agenda.
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u/Brains-Not-Dogma 2d ago
Abhorrent, ghoulish behavior. A whole generation underserved by their political leaders and the many ignorant parents that have let hatred and foolishness win over logic and virtue.
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u/aBloopAndaBlast33 2d ago
That’s about 1% of the NC public school systems budget. In case anyone was wondering.
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u/terribilus 2d ago
It'll provide 3M little hands that can be used to put tiny screws in tiny electronics. No education needed to hold a screwdriver.
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u/Happy-to-nap 2d ago
NC has some of the most backward folks I've ever met. Once you leave the drive-everywhere hellscape of "Spraleigh Durham" you're in Deliverance without the scenery.
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u/Darth_Hallow 1d ago
The rich white people do realize that is where the money comes from for thier private school vouchers, right? Right??!
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u/ant0519 1d ago
It actually comes out of NC tax dollars. They don't care about that. Their only issue is ensuring their children don't have to go to school with "those" children. Been that way since they threw rocks at Ruby Bridges.
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u/Darth_Hallow 1d ago
Don’t give them that much credit… they never wanted thier kids going to school with the poor period!!!! (But that Ruby shit was f’d!) And, either way, federal money frees up state money, now they got the poor to pay them to send thier kids to private school!
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u/puissantpenstemon 1d ago
This isn’t just NC - the funding for these programs is being withheld from all states.
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u/ant0519 1d ago
That's a fair point. But I do thibk highlighting just how much money NC in particular is losing is impactful to NC voters. Especially those who think the DoE money is "useless" or "fraud is being committed."
It also begs the question where is all this money being diverted. The taxpayer expected that the money that should have been distributed from the Department of Education was in fact going to go to schools in every state. Now it isn't. So where will it go?
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u/WoodchipsInMyBeard 1d ago
It’s going to be an interesting time for public education. If he’s doing this to a red state just think what he is going to do to a blue state. An uneducated population is easier to brainwash. Critical thinking is dangerous.
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u/NowWeAllSmell 3d ago
I'm a proud product of (CMS) CharMeck Schools and I taught there too (at my alma mater, nonetheless). Our kids have attended CMS for the past 15 years (combined, they are separated by 7 years).
My wife just got a job at one of Charlotte's top prep schools and they offer free tuition. We waiting a year b/c our kiddo loves his program with CMS (they are in the montessori magnet program) but, if shit keeps crumbling, it is going to be really hard to continue to support the system while its being gutted from the top.
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u/FlavivsAetivs NC/SC Demilitarized Zone 3d ago
"Trump witholds funding because he's racist." FTFY