Christian Robles

Late last week, in a memo sent to state education officials across the country, the Department of Education threatened to cut federal Title I funds — support for schools with large numbers of low-income students — if states did not sign a certification that certain diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives had been eliminated. 

As of Thursday, none of these threatened cuts have been implemented, but local leaders remain afraid that New Haven schools will face steep reductions in federal funding from the Trump administration, especially as the Trump administration attempts to dismantle the Department of Education. Meanwhile, even with federal funds intact, New Haven Public Schools have struggled to fund normal operations this school year.

“It’s quite ironic that the Trump administration says they want to give control over schools back to the states, except for the issues that Mr. Trump cares about,” Mayor Justin Elicker said. “They are, on the one hand, giving control of the schools back to the state, but on the other hand, micromanaging how our schools educate our children.”

The proposed cuts have already created a climate of uncertainty, according to Michael Morton, spokesperson for the School and State Finance Project, making planning difficult for school districts and hurting students. 

Minnesota and New York have refused to comply with the federal memo to dismantle DEI, but Connecticut officials have taken a different approach. 

On Tuesday, Connecticut Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker told superintendents that they have more time to respond to the memo than initially feared and that her office is still formulating a response, the Connecticut Post reported.

In 2020, Connecticut became the first state in the country to require all public high schools to offer an ethnic studies curriculum in Black and Latine history, with Asian American history added in fall 2025.

In his state of the state address in January, Governor Ned Lamont urged state legislators to let the Trump cuts play out over the coming months and “focus on what we can do to build on the progress we’ve made over the last six years.”

In recent weeks, Lamont has expressed a willingness to declare a fiscal emergency if the Trump administration cuts federal funding for Medicaid, allowing the state to bypass its fiscal guardrails. But Lamont’s response to potential cuts to federal funds for public schools remains unclear, Elicker said.

In a joint statement last month with the state senate president and house speaker, Lamont promised to protect “our most essential programs” from federal cuts.

“No state can restore every cut that comes from Washington or ignore the effects, especially on public health,” they wrote. “However, sound fiscal practices have positioned us better than most states in the nation. If this pattern of devastating cuts continues, we will be prepared to exercise emergency powers. Although we hope that Washington reverses course, we must plan for the inevitable or unpredictable.”

Also last month, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who has positioned himself as a vocal opponent of the Trump administration, joined a lawsuit from dozens of states to prevent the dismantling of the Department of Education. The Department administers millions of dollars in federal funds to NHPS each year and is responsible for civil rights oversight nationwide.

The rising tensions between the federal and state governments comes amid a long-simmering fight over state education funding at the state capitol, as state legislators hammer out a budget for the next two years. 

In March, Elicker traveled to Hartford with 75 New Haven Public Schools students to testify before the state Education Committee in favor of SB1511, which aims to address “disconnected youth” in the state by increasing the base amount the state spends per student each year.

The Trump cuts will only exacerbate existing inequalities in education funding in Connecticut, John Carlos Musser, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School, told the News.

The threatened Title 1 funds are critical for NHPS. According to Musser, for example, they were used to purchase all of the district’s Chromebook computers.

“Those cuts would be disastrous. Even with the funding that we’re currently getting with the federal government, we’re looking at cuts and deficits and not being able to meet the needs of our students,” said Leslie Blatteau ’97 GRD ’07, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers. “It would begin to accomplish what the Trump administration wants, which is our public schools to be starved out of existence.”

Blatteau said that if push comes to shove, she believes state leaders would protect the new ethnic studies curriculum and other programs targeted by the Trump administration. But proactive state action is necessary, Blatteau added. 

Elicker told the News that New Haven will likely sue the Trump administration once again if the cuts are carried out. He called on state leaders to also do their part by providing further support for the state’s public schools, regardless of changes in federal funding.

“What I would like to see is that state leadership make clear that our values are shared across the state, and that no matter what happens, no matter what decisions the Trump administration implements, we in Connecticut stand together, and will fight things together, and defend one another,” Elicker said.

In the 2023-24 school year, Connecticut public schools served more than half a million students.