Trump Administration Cuts Millions in Chicago Public Schools Funding
By: Olivia Armstead
The Trump administration pulled millions in federal funding from Chicago Public Schools due to the district refusing to budge on its goals for integrating the Black Student Success Plan. The district was also unwilling to pull back on its policies that protect transgender youth.
According to WBEZ Chicago, the administration informed the district on Tuesday, September 25, that they planned to move forward with withdrawing federal funding and also decided to cancel the Magnet Schools Assistance program grant. The district was expecting $8 million from the grant and intended to put it towards developing individualized learning programs across a variety of schools.
The Black Student Success Plan was put in place to improve learning experiences for Black students by closing opportunity gaps, hiring more Black teachers, and much more. It will also work to ensure that transgender students can participate in sports and use their preferred restrooms.
Despite pushback and criticism from the Trump administration, the school district is not wavering in its plans to advocate for its students.
“CPS will not back away from our commitment to Black, transgender or any other student groups. We will continue to consider diversity among our district’s greatest strengths and will move forward with uplifting and protecting the rights of all students,” said Chicago Public Schools’ interim CEO Macqueline King.
The district is estimated to have a budget of at least $10 billion, but following the funding pull, concerns have been raised regarding whether or not the Trump administration will target more of the district’s federal funding, which reportedly will account for approximately $1 billion of the school district’s budget for 2026.
According to WTTW News, the Trump administration, along with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, is set to withhold around $5.8 million in the magnet school grant funding within the next 12 months and around $17.5 million until the grants expire.
This step taken by the administration raises conversations within the Black community about the future of DEI within school districts across the country and how generations to come will be affected by future decisions.
“This message sends to Black students in Chicago that we are reverting back to [the] history of segregation, where Black students went to [poorly funded] schools due to racism and white superiority. With Donald Trump taking away a lot of Chicago’s funding for its public schools, he is showing that he wants to control how Black people learn […] we might be heading into a system of dictatorship,” said Mya Niles, a sophomore political science major attending Hampton University.
