How the incoming Trump administration could impact Mass. schools

In Chelsea, where students new to the country comprise roughly 400 of the district's 6,000 students, Superintendent Almi Abeyta said fear of the mass deportations promised by President-elect Trump have left concerned families with questions.

“They're scared,” she said. “They don't know what to believe.”

In Peabody, Superintendent Josh Vadala said he’s worried that federal funding, which makes up roughly 4% of the district's total $95 million budget, could be slashed.

“Those funds go directly to helping kids sort of bridge the gap between where they're achieving now and where we'd like to see them,” Vadala said.

Massachusetts education leaders have expressed a number of concerns as the country prepares for a change in leadership. While it’s too early to say how education policies may change under the new administration, lessons from Trump’s first term in office — and the things he’s said on the campaign trail — offer some clues.

Trump has vowed to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, launch mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and cut federal funding from schools that teach about gender identity or universities that advance diversity initiatives.

Recently, Trump nominated Linda McMahon, a former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, and former head of the Small Business Administration in his first term, as Education Secretary. McMahon also chairs the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded in late 2020, whose K-12 education platform champions more parental control over school curriculum and using public funding for charter and private schools.

“We will send education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump wrote in a statement on Truth Social.

Schools are primarily under state and local control. Any changes Trump makes at the federal level is unlikely to change local policies and priorities in Massachusetts schools, according to Marty West, professor of education and academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

“That creates the opportunity for a Republican-controlled state to make one set of decisions while a state like Massachusetts makes a different set of decisions,” he said.

While Trump’s proposals are sweeping in nature, there’s little detail offered for now.

“He does want to abolish the Department of Education, which was created in 1979, but it’s not clear what that means — just get rid of the bureaucracy or go further and cut the funding for education?” said Paul Reville, a former Massachusetts education secretary and education researcher.

Eliminating the department would require congressional approval.

“They're scared ... They don't know what to believe.”

Almi Abeyta

The incoming administration’s proposals don't stop at high school. As a U.S. senator, Vice-President-elect JD Vance introduced legislation to hike taxes on the net investment income made by private universities with endowments larger than $10 billion. He singled out institutions such as MIT and Harvard, which have some of the largest endowments in the country.

Peter Ubertaccio, vice president for academic affairs at Stonehill College in Easton, said he expects Trump to go after diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by colleges and roll back student loan forgiveness efforts started by President Biden.

“Your average college student in the United States goes to a regional state institution,” he said. “And so we'll all be watching very carefully to see if changes in federal loans negatively impact students’ ability to go and receive a college education.”

The number of English learners in their first year of U.S. schooling has tripled in Massachusetts over the last 15 years, according to a 2023 report by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute.

Trump’s pledge to enforce mass deportations could have “dramatic consequences for students attending Massachusetts public schools,” West said.

Abeyta said Chelsea schools are taking steps to prepare. She’s met with community partners and other local leaders to discuss what to do in the emergency situation when a student goes home and their parent or guardian is no longer there.

"Those are the types of scenarios that we've been talking about as a community,” Abeyta said.

Following the election, the district posted a message on its website emphasizing that Chelsea public schools are “committed to maintaining safe and inclusive environments.” Abeyta said school leaders and staffers have also reminded parents that the district isn’t allowed to share any student information — including immigration status — to outside parties.

Meanwhile, leaders at Boston International Newcomers Academy, part of Boston International High School which serves immigrant English learners, have carved out time in the school day for legal experts to hold a series of “know-your-rights” sessions for students and their families.

Some colleges and universities in the state have advised international students to return to the U.S. before inauguration day, citing previous travel bans enacted during Trump's first term. About a fifth of the roughly 450,000 higher ed students in Massachusetts come from abroad.

Trump proposed cuts to federal education funding during his first term, but many of those plans were either blocked in Congress or failed to materialize. If he’s more successful in his second administration, that could threaten billions of dollars that schools nationwide rely on to supplement their budgets.

Funding cuts would hit Massachusetts schools at a time when they’re recovering from the loss of pandemic-era aid and would hit the most vulnerable students hardest, say area advocates.

Amanda Seider, executive director of education nonprofit OneGoal Massachusetts, expressed concern about the future of federal financial aid for low-income students and college access.

“Pell grants, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans — all of these programs are a lifeline for our students,” she said. “One thing that we have seen time and time again is that when there are these moments of uncertainty or instability in the education system, it is most often our students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds that lose out.”

School leaders are watching for potential cuts to federal funding for special education services  and schools with a high percentage of low-income students.

While federal funding makes up a relatively small percentage of the state’s $5 billion-plus K-12 education budget, individual districts would feel the impact.

Peabody uses the money to help kids who are behind in reading and math catch up with their peers, according to Vadala.

He estimates his district receives a few million dollars of federal funding each year.

“It’s real money,” he said, adding that any potential cuts would be harmful for kids.

Education experts say it's likely that the second Trump administration will rescind protections for transgender students.

During his campaign Trump poured millions of dollars into anti-trans ads and vowed to enforce policies that address what he dubbed “left-wing gender insanity,” including invoking Title IX to prohibit trans women and girls from participating in women’s sports.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at federally-funded schools and universities. It also requires schools to intervene in cases of sexual assault and harassment.

In light of Trump’s remarks, transgender youth across Massachusetts worry about the rollback of protections under the incoming administration, said Shaplaie Brooks, executive director of the Massachusetts Commission of LGBT Youth. Brooks said student concerns include their ability to access medication and safely attend school.

“In Massachusetts we are going to fight for them … like we've been doing,” Brooks said.

In the last decade, presidential administrations have reinterpreted Title IX to either include protections for transgender students, or rescind them. Former President Obama issued guidance that expanded Title IX to protect a transgender student's right to use the bathroom aligned with their gender. Trump removed those protections during his first term. Biden, as president, reinstated them.

Trump has also said he plans to eliminate "wokeness” from schools and universities, citing gender or race-based education. The federal government does not have the authority to make curriculum decisions for school districts, but Trump has promised he'd restrict federal funding for schools that thwart his guidelines.

“In Massachusetts we are going to fight for them … like we've been doing,”

Shaplaie Brooks

Oren Sellstrom, litigation director of Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, said federal guidance to districts “can go in both directions.”

“It can be positive in the furtherance of civil rights, or it can be in the opposite direction. And that's certainly what we're concerned about,” he said.

For now, Lawyers for Civil Rights will be “redoubling their efforts” to fight on behalf of immigrant families who experience things like student enrollment barriers.

“The Massachusetts Constitution is very strong in terms of education rights and civil rights more generally. And our hope is that if there is a void that is left in terms of federal enforcement, that our state officials, the governor, state agencies, and the state attorney general will step into that void and ensure that students’ rights are protected,” Sellstrom said.

Seider, of OneGoal, said her organization will continue to invest in “high quality advising and support” for students to make sure “they are not deterred by uncertainty.”

In an emailed statement, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler referenced the state’s commitment to delivering “a high-quality education to every student in Massachusetts, regardless of their zip-code, background, or circumstance.”

“We are committed to building on this progress,” he said. “Our students deserve nothing less.”