SENATOR ANWAR SLAMS LATEST TRUMP EDUCATION FREEZE STRIPPING $1.26 MILLION FROM LOCAL SCHOOLS

Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) slammed this week’s latest education freeze from the Trump administration, which will strip billions of dollars from national education programs, more than $50 million from Connecticut public schools and $1,263,431 from public schools in Connecticut’s 3^rd Senate District.

These cuts include just over $1 million of support for East Hartford Public Schools, $140,137 of funding for South Windsor Public Schools, $64,165 for East Windsor Public Schools and $41,509 for Ellington Public Schools, according to the Connecticut School and State Finance Project.

Nationally, more than $6 billion in grants were frozen from programs supporting teacher development and recruitment, student support and academic enrichment, community learning centers, English learning support and adult education and literacy, including more than $53 million in federal funding for Connecticut schools. Leaders around the state report the cuts pose serious threats to a number of school programs.

“As the federal government prepares to add trillions of dollars to the national debt in coming years, it should be obvious that freezing and cutting education funding to this level has no real intent beyond an attack on our schools and our communities,” said Sen. Anwar. “Without this support, children lose access to key programs supporting their education. Communities lose resources connecting residents with opportunities to develop skills spurring personal enrichment and setting them up for lifelong success. Our society makes a promise to our students that we will support them; to renege on that promise is to worsen our collective futures. The damage these cuts represent is dire; worse, I fear there’s more to come.”

State officials said the specific grant cuts impacting Connecticut include grants for improvement of teacher instruction, including teacher development, retention and recruitment; improvement of services for multilingual learners; support for well-rounded education opportunities, student health and safety and technological education; before- and after-school programs improving student education and well-being; and adult education and literacy services.