After President Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, Central Coast school districts entered a “wait-and-see” period. One Paso Robles educator said the loss of federal funding puts his district’s most vulnerable students at risk.
Jim Cogan, president of the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Board, said he’s particularly worried about the impact of lost funding on their Virginia Peterson campus.
"We have an excellent community and program focused on providing access and accessibility for students with disabilities. They receive Title 1 funds for a lot of the work that they do," Cogan said.
Title 1 funds were established in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to provide financial assistance to school districts with high concentrations of low-income families and disadvantaged students.
Before signing the executive order, President Trump said dismantling the Department of Education would return decisions about local schools to the states. But Cogan argued the Department of Education’s purpose is to foster educational excellence and ensure equal access, not to make decisions for local districts.
"We already have the control, that's what we do. That's why we have local school boards," Cogan added.
In the 2023-2024 school year, the federal government allocated about $4 million to Paso Robles schools, according to the district budget. Cogan says the board plans to discuss the potential impact to their budget sometime in June.
