A month of Trump: NC educators feel the impact of fast and furious orders from Washington

President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as president only a month ago this Thursday, but he has already issued at least 65 executive orders.

One group that has felt the impact of presidential directives most acutely is the education community. From K-12 to higher ed, Trump has used the power of the presidency to try and rapidly reshape how government will support and control education and related research endeavors moving forward. Many North Carolina educators and administrators are struggling to cope with the upheaval.

The Winston-Salem TEACH initiative became one of the most recently affected. The program, which works to create a pipeline of new educators to serve in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, shared on social media that its $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that funded 80% of its work was unexpectedly canceled.

“This is a devastating blow, as 75% of this grant directly supported stipends for our residents—aspiring educators who have committed to teaching in Title I schools,” wrote Dr. Kate Allman, executive director of Winston-Salem TEACH at Wake Forest University.

“These stipends are a critical way we combat the key factors driving teacher turnover in Title I schools, most importantly the financial barriers that prevent talented educators from entering and staying in the profession.”

The organization is now trying to raise funds locally through the Forsyth Education Partnership.

Disheartening decisions, fearful students

And while the White House may have rescinded its memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, Wake County Board of Education Chair Chris Heagarty said the very threat to existing federal funding is disheartening.

“When you talk about our Title I programs and the number of educational services that are being provided in schools to assist families that have the lowest economic resources of their own, programs like Pre-K to help all kids get ready for that first day of kindergarten,” Heagarty said during a recent school board meeting. “These are essential services, and we know they’re effective. And why would you threaten those services?”

Heagarty said federal funding supports more than 20,000 special education students in Wake County alone.

“Wake County has so many special education students that if you took them out of the county, they would form the 14th largest school district in North Carolina.”

At the same meeting, school board member Lindsay Mahaffey warned that stressed and fearful students cannot succeed.

“Whether it’s from bullying, whether it’s from an outside force coming into the school and threatening their physical safety. You can’t learn if you don’t feel safe,” said Mahaffey. “If students don’t feel accepted, they can’t learn. If we have children who are hungry, who are afraid, who don’t feel accepted, we can’t do our job, which is to teach children. And that’s what it comes down to.”

Legislation (House Bill 78) filed last week by a group of four Democratic members of the North Carolina House of Representatives seeks to prevent state law enforcement officers from participating in immigration enforcement in elementary and secondary schools, places of religious worship, and hospitals.

The state level pushback comes after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in January those once “sensitive” areas would no longer be considered off-limits to agents searching for those who may be in the country without proper documentation.

Critics of the federal directive worry that students may avoid coming to school or undocumented parents may avoid medical care if they are worried about possible arrest.

Both HB 78 and House Bill 80 — a companion bill that addresses ICE enforcement at construction sites and farmlands — face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Higher education leaders “increasingly concerned”

On Friday, Warwick Arden, NC State University’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, issued a memorandum announcing an immediate hiring freeze due to the spike in uncertainty surrounding federal funding.

“Given the uncertain impacts of the presidential administration’s Executive Orders and guidance, and financial challenges that the state government is dealing with, leadership is becoming increasingly concerned with our budgets over the next year or two,” wrote Arden.

For now, the university will implement a pause on all hiring activities in the colleges including faculty and staff searches, until further notice. At present, student workers and temporary employees are not included in this hiring freeze.

“I also encourage you to be conservative in the use of all your funds given the challenging financial climate we currently find ourselves in,” Arden advised.

At a UNC-Chapel Hill employee forum earlier this month, Provost Chris Clemens worked to walk a fine line with university staff, acknowledging the anxiety that has resulted from the deluge of executive orders amid the need to proceed pragmatically to protect federal funding.

Elizabeth Dubose with the UNC School of Medicine said staff were concerned for the dollars, but also for their ideals.

“There are a lot of really strong, good people here wanting to do the right thing and believing in the right thing. But that it’s stressful looking at all this and feeling such a lack of control,” said Dubose.

On February 10th, Clemens and Chancellor Lee Roberts announced the university would comply with one of Trump’s executive orders by suspending the “U.S. Diversity” requirement in its general education curriculum.

While that move may have been met with disfavor by some, Andrew Tripp, the UNC System Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel, spelled out the reason for compliance in a February memo to chancellors.

“University institutions received approximately $1.4B in federal research dollars pursuant to contracts and grants in FY 2023–24, constituting approximately 62% of all University research funds, and approximately 13% of the University’s annual budget. The University also received over $600M in federal dollars in the form of student aid and other funding,” Tripp wrote.

Dear Colleague…

The latest directive targeting DEI activities came on Valentine’s Day in the form of a Dear Colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The acting assistant secretary offered a broad interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023 that struck down affirmative action.

“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life,” wrote Craig Trainor.

Compliance with the new OCR directive will be a condition of receiving federal funding.

PEN America, the national nonprofit that for more than a century has fought for free expression, condemned the letter threatening to defund schools over diversity-related programs.

“We urge the Department of Education to rescind this letter immediately. And we urge educational leaders not to be cowed by the threats of government officials whose erroneous interpretations of the Constitution would undermine the freedom to learn.”