Hamtramck teacher says Trump’s education order could have a big impact in Michigan

Toni Coral, a teacher and president of the Hamtramck Federation of Teachers, worries about how her students will be affected by recent federal education cuts.

For nearly 60 years under the Disabilities Education Act, Title I funding has helped ensure that low-income schools can provide a quality education for students with disabilities across the US.

In Michigan, our schools receive more than $2 billion in federal funding each year from the Department of Education (DOE) to support the more than 1.4 million students in nearly 4,000 schools across the Great Lakes State. A portion of these funds are used for special education services, teacher salaries, and other resources.

“With Title I money, we’re able to hire certified staff to work in smaller groups to target their reading, their literacy, and to work on math skills,” said Toni Coral, a teacher and president of the Hamtramck Federation of Teachers. 

Hamtramck serves more than 2,900 students, including 300 in special-education programs.

However, President Trump’s recent executive orders to dismantle the DOE are making Coral worried about how the federal cuts will affect her students and others across Michigan.

Related: Trump wants to shut down the US Department of Education. What would that mean for Michigan? 

Closing the DOE could mean redistributing those federal funds elsewhere. For example, the funds used for K-12 programs could be converted into block grants—a form of funding that comes with few rules and even less federal oversight. 

“If Title I went away, or if it was substantially reduced, we would lose teachers and our students would lose a lot of services,” said Coral. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel is already working with other Attorneys General from around the US to file a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, calling these cuts “dangerous, reckless, and unacceptable,” and arguing that the Trump administration is breaking the law by trying to dismantle an agency created by Congress.

As the lawsuit progresses, Nessel said that she remains committed to defending Michigan students’ best interests. 

“We know what our mission is,” she said in an interview with Michigan Public Radio.

“We know what our job is, and that is to protect our state residents.”

Public News Service contributed to this story.