Donald Trump Shifting Millions Towards HBCUs & Charter Schools

The Trump Administration is shifting $500 million towards HBCUs and tribal campuses, but will also slash grant programs for other minority students.

USA Today reports the Department of Education announced its decision on September 15, and it will be a part of the plans to redirect money to Donald Trump’s “chief priorities,” whatever those are.

The Department of Education also announced it would award $500 million in grants to Charter Schools while pledging to invest more than $160 million in American History and civics education programs as the Trump Administration continues to whitewash history by removing anything related to the United States’ connection with slavery from museums and national parks.

In an attempt to justify its decision, the Department of Education, which is currently led by the woman who was once in charge of the WWE, Linda McMahon, presented evidence in the form of a September 9 report highlighting a decline in K-12 student achievement as a reason for its investment in charter schools.

“Today, the Department is making three massive investments – redirecting financial support away from ineffective and discriminatory programs toward those which support student success,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

The website notes the moves announced by the DOE come in the wake of massive cuts to Minority-Serving Institutions.

Per USA Today:

The move comes days after the administration said it was withholding more than $350 million in grants to Minority-Serving Institutions, including colleges and universities that serve large populations of Hispanic students, arguing that awarding grants based on racial and ethnic enrollment is unconstitutional. The cuts targeted grants for institutions serving Alaska and Hawaiian natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic and Black students.

There Is Pushback To The Department of Education’s Cuts To Grants

Yes, HBCUs are getting a “boost” in funding, but there are still some Democrats and college leaders calling out the administration’s cuts. Amanda Fuchs Miller, deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs under President Joe Biden, said in a LinkedIn post that the Education Department overstepped its authority.

“Congress directs how funding is spent. The Executive Branch implements it. The role of the Department of Ed in these grant programs is to shape them to move their priorities forward,” Miller said. “It is not to just decide that authorized and appropriated programs shouldn’t be funded and to take that money and give it elsewhere for political reasons.”

It definitely sounds to us that Trump is only doing this to have leverage over HBCUs, just saying.

Donald Trump Redirects Millions of Dollars To HBCUs & Tribal Colleges, But There’s A Twist  was originally published on cassiuslife.com