Beginning this school year, changes in federal funding—such as cuts, freezing, and unfreezing of funds— totaling $72 million are impacting Wisconsin schools. The Trump administration announced nationwide cuts in late 2024 in an effort to decrease the US spending deficit. However, the reduced funding is facing criticism from both state and local education agencies alike, as several different programs working to support students with educational disadvantages are facing reductions in federal funding.
In June 2025, the federal government announced that it would freeze $72 million in public education funding for the state of Wisconsin, but the decision was later reversed on July 18th and July 25th.
The grants still withheld from Shorewood are issued under the English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act (Title III), with approximately $10,000 of federal funding being reduced.
The freezing and unfreezing of funds, although temporary, still had a significant impact on local and state education agencies, as many were left wondering how to make up the funds they were unsure if they would receive this school year. At the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), there were several considerations on how to support schools during the period of uncertainty.
Erin Fath, DPI Director of Budget, described the uncertainty at the organization, saying internal reviews were necessary to see how the cut funds could be made up.
“We had to do some scrambling to say…if we don’t get these funds as of August- September, we’re going to have to make some changes in our staffing or how we fund positions. I think it was in early August, maybe very late July, states were informed we would receive that money,” Fath said. “Throwing people off balance creates a lot of consternation and more work that, frankly, is time that could have been spent…doing what we all want to do, which is to serve kids and in school.”
Although those funds were eventually released to states, many Title programs full funding has not been restored starting this fiscal year. Districts with low property taxes or a large population of students who rely on these programs now have to find other ways to help fund those Title programs.
Laura Adams, DPI policy initiative advisor, described this process and how it may affect some Wisconsin districts more than others.
“Some of our really small rural school districts are more impacted because [they] often receive more federal funds. At the same time, some of our large urban schools, like Milwaukee Public Schools or even Madison Metropolitan School District, have large numbers of students experiencing poverty or students experiencing homelessness,” Adams said. “They have larger numbers of learners who are using special access and special education programming. Another place that could be hit harder is schools where we have high numbers of indigenous or Native American learners. Learners on reservations don’t get property taxes the way that our other schools do. And property taxes, of course, are the primary means that the rest of our schools get funding.”
Despite the Trump administration’s attitude towards these funds as unnecessary, many districts and educational agencies see these cuts as another hurdle to supporting students who might not have the support they need to access education the same way as the average learner.
“The federal government provides additional funds to schools to support schools, and particularly student populations that may have greater needs and that schools may need additional resources in order to provide them with the kinds of support that they need to access a high quality education,” Adams said. “So when the federal government does things like cut some of these programs, or when they threaten to cut some of these programs, — because at this point in time we have more threats than maybe actual cuts—it puts those additional resources to schools in jeopardy.”
This conflict is not just limited to Wisconsin, as many other states have faced reduced funding for federal programs — leading to the formation of multi-state lawsuits against the Trump administration, according to Chris Bucher, DPI Director of Communications.
“Since January…with all this uncertainty, we definitely have been collaborating and working with other states on a number of fronts as far as messaging and guidance,” Bucher said “What you’ve seen too at the state level is a lot of these lawsuits from our Department of Justice. I know we’ve entered into a lot of multi state lawsuits, so we’ve been working a lot with other states.”
For districts who aren’t able to cover federal funding for certain title programs, the solution to the reduction is unclear — with many finding the money in different ways. However, with many districts already facing increased costs of keeping schools operating (separate of federal issues), the path forward isn’t completely clear.
“Our school districts are doing a wide variety of things [to address federal funding] and it depends on the community where they live, the amount of property taxes, and the resources the community may have to be able to make up for potential gaps,” Adams said. “In some communities, we see taxpayers going to referendums and making a decision about whether or not they will raise their local property taxes to maybe make up the difference. Or [they] might continue to fund their school at levels that are necessary, since we know that in our current economy, we have things like inflation that all school districts need to account for — but that our state legislators are not.”
As for the Shorewood School District, the high property taxes allows for more flexibility within the budget compared to other school districts, according to district Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burgos.
“As early as June, we started having conversations about having to have a plan in case we didn’t receive federal funds because things were already so volatile from a policy context,” Burgos said. “We had already planned internally to talk to the board about using general fund dollars to cover the federal expenses because we do have some staff whose positions are funded through federal funds. We needed to be able to cover those dollars, and it’s important to us to make sure that we’re not making any kind of staffing reductions at the last minute.”
For the district, reductions in federal funding are not new, with the general funding for the district falling in the past couple years, according to Burgos.
“I would say that over the — at least since I’ve been here, the amount of federal funds we qualified for has gone down,” Burgos said.
Burgos remains in contact with other district leaders in order to share perspectives and ideas on how to make up the reduced federal funds for Title programs and how to react to the Trump administration’s new actions.
“I meet monthly with the north shore superintendents, and part of the reason that we meet to talk about items like this. I would say most of our neighboring districts took a similar approach as we did — knowing that they would want to continue with the instruction and services that the title funds were providing for.”
Although it’s unclear if federal funding to Title programs will be restored in the next few years, regaining those funds might come with additional strings attached — leading to hesitancy for some district leaders.
“We don’t know when or if they will make those dollars accessible and if they do what kind of requirements might be attached to them,” Burgos said. “Anytime you use federal funds there are always strings attached to them — and there should be because there should be some kind of accountability to how to make sure that we’re following their requirements in terms of spending. We don’t know what those might be, and just given the policy context, I don’t know that we would want to agree to any of the stipulations that they might put on those dollars.”
For the school board, cuts to federal funding was also a primary concern beginning last year. Nathan Hammonds, school board president, affirms Dr. Burgos’ plans to prioritize covering lost federal funding.
“We’re fortunate,” Hammonds said. “Superintendent Burgos gives our board regular updates on federal funding, and as of right now, at least the only federal funds we have not received are about $10,000 that support multilingual learners. We are fortunately able to cover that through our existing funds. Our board is really committed to providing continued support for multilingual learners and students with disabilities, regardless of fluctuations of federal funding.”
Despite these promises, financial stability continues to be a priority for the district, especially in the face of rising inflation and federal funding uncertainties.
“A top priority for the district is long term financial stability, and it’s a key priority in our new five year strategic plan. So we regularly have discussions about ensuring long term financial stability, and we will continue to do so.”
In this effort, Dr. Burgos and the school board are creating a community led project to address current budget structure.
“Superintendent Burgos is in the process of forming a task group that’s going to take a look at our school structures and also funding and the board should be receiving a report,” Hammonds said. “ This work group will be meeting this fall and then giving a presentation to the board or a report to the board, likely early in 2026. If you’re open to it, you can, just go and do. It’s in the process of being formed right now, and it’s going to consist of a diverse group of people, including staff and administrators and community members.”