Action by the House Appropriations Committee last month to gut a $2.1 billion funding stream used to train teachers, principals, and other staff could be disastrous for school districts throughout the country, advocates and administrators say.

The $66 billion approved for the Education Department cuts $2.4 billion from the current plan, almost all of it coming from so-called Title II, Part A funds. The idea of eliminating Title II was first proposed by President Trump, whose administration said the money was “poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact.”

“Our [Title II] funds are truly used to support teachers and to support [school] leadership in supporting teachers,” said Ramona Lynn Coleman, who manages professional learning for the 31,000-student Fort Wayne Community Schools. “It would really be a hardship on the district to not have that funding.”

Whether the Title II cut will come to pass is unclear. The full House has not agreed on the spending measure, and while the Senate hasn’t put out its own version yet either, Education Week reported that it did announce that it was setting aside a total of $164 billion for Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Education Department. That’s $8 billion more than the House bill and could create room for negotiation.

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