Department of Education Disruption

Please read and consider contacting our elected congressional officials to demand support for our public education funding and Head Start Programs

Many parents are asking what impact the dismantling of the Department of Education will have on Council Rock. The Department of Education funds special education services and teacher training. Its civil rights division protects students and school communities from discrimination––safeguards that could become harder to enforce without a federal presence. Over 50% of the DoE staff has been cut, making it unclear if all these responsibilities will continue––and, if they do, who will oversee them. President Trump has said that HHS, led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will oversee special education support, but given the staffing and expenditure cuts at HHS, it's uncertain whether special education support will continue at or near its current level.

Council Rock’s 2024/25 budget anticipated approximately $4.5M in federal funding. That money supports special education services for the one-in-six Council Rock students who depend on those programs. Funding assistance for teacher professional development, education for English language learners, and free and reduced-cost lunch for kids who need it also come from those federal dollars.

The bottom line: If federal funding is disrupted, school districts––including Council Rock––will have to make tough decisions, both in their budgets and programs.

As a Council Rock school board member, I want to reassure you that our board leadership is committed to protecting public education and ensuring that every student has the resources each needs to succeed––including those relying on special education services. I will continue to advocate for our students, families, and educators as we navigate the uncertainty surrounding federal support.

At the Bucks Intermediate Unit–a regional educational services agency established in 1971 by the PA General Assembly–funding of the Head Start program is also uncertain. Head Start Programs currently employs about seventy-five professionals and serves 362 students in Bucks County who rely on these programs for childcare and preschool.

This program has been supported through five-year federal grants since 2015. Though the federal government has committed to fund the programs through the end of the ‘24-’25 school year, the current grant expires at the end of May, and the grant application filed on January 2nd for the next five-year cycle has yet to be approved. Bucks IU has received no communication about its status. Without this grant, Head Start programs will be forced to close.

This is deeply disturbing to me. Decades of research validate the importance of early education for a child’s success in later life. Additionally, I’ve visited some of these classrooms and met some of the IU employees doing this important work. These families often are low-income, new to our country, and sometimes non-English speakers. The IU employees guide these families with critical information, including connecting them with other available resources. Without that guidance, I worry that those young children will miss out on so many advantages many of us take for granted.

If you share my concerns, I ask that you contact our three elected congressional officials as soon as you possibly can, and demand that they vote to make sure Council Rock and school districts throughout Pennsylvania do not lose any federal funding for public schools and Head Start programs. Your calls will matter. Every call, letter or message is logged and counted.

Brian Fitzpatrick, Representative, PA 01 - 202 225-4276

John Fetterman, Senator - 202 224-4254

Dave McCormick, Senator - 202 224-6324

One of the easiest ways to contact them is through 5Calls, or click on the issues below. You’ll see suggested scripts, contact information for each of our elected officials.

Stop the Defunding of Our Public Schools: Oppose ECCA in Budget Reconciliation (UPDATED 5/14)

Protect Head Start and Early Education

As always, I appreciate your support and feedback.

Tracey

tracey.osecki@crsd.org