President Trump’s Department of Education & CA Budget Cuts

With the year halfway through, seemingly everyone across the United States would probably agree that 2025 has been a rollercoaster of a year, to say the least. For this week’s episode of the Legal Lens Podcast, we were thrilled to have returning guests Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Kristin McGuire join the program to discuss something that occurred within 30 to 60 days of President Donald Trump taking office: President Trump’s Department of Education changes. These federal changes have a trickle effect on state-level California Department of Education funding and reflect the very strong position the current administration has taken regarding federal support for local schools, with some experts predicting that it could create a U.S. education crisis.

For a crucial look into these changes and their widespread impact, I strongly encourage you to tune into our most recent riveting 30-minute discussion with McKenzie and McGuire on the Legal Lens Podcast. You can find us conveniently on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Simplecast, and everywhere you get your podcasts for free. Here is a recap of our conversation.

Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Kristin McGuire Discuss President Trump’s Department of Education Budget Cuts, California Department of Education Funding, State-Level Budget Cuts in Public Schools, and the Emergence of an Education Crisis in America

While incredibly sobering, this week’s discussion was critical. The issues surrounding President Trump’s Department of Education budget cuts and policy changes affect families nationwide. Further adding to the importance of this topic, state-level budget cuts in public schools especially impact those with Black or Brown children because these children are primarily in public schools.

“Our district is very ethnically diverse – we’re probably hovering at about 60% Latino, 20% White, 10% Black, and 10% Asian, so we have a lot of different ethnic groups in our schools,” said McKenzie, illustrating the communities that are going to be the most heavily impacted by President Trump’s Department of Education policy.

To this point, McGuire said that her district in Covina is also diverse, joking, “Over here on the east side of the San Gabriel Valley, we are small but mighty. We probably are a third of the size of Pasadena Unified School District. We serve anywhere between 4,300 and 4,500 students a year, and about three-quarters of our students identify as Latino, followed by White students at around 11%, and then the American Asian and API community.”

Who Are Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Kristin McGuire?

I invited the honorable Patrice Marshall McKenzie and the honorable Kristin McGuire, two women whom I consider friends, beacons of inspiration and hope, and fierce leaders who are on the front lines and representing us, not only in education but also broadly civically.

They truly are the ladies of this time, so much so that when I first thought of having a conversation about such pertinent education issues, I couldn’t think of anyone better than our two returning Legal Lens guests. It is truly a pleasure and an honor to have them back.

McKenzie, a board member with the Pasadena Unified School District, a district with approximately 14,000 students comprising the three communities of Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre, noted the heaviness of the moment as everyone tries to do their part to provide a safety net and support the most vulnerable in our community.

“To be honest, it’s been difficult, separate and apart from most recent activities,” said MacKenzie. “My school district and community are really struggling because we were impacted by the Eden Fire in a significant way. I cannot count the number of students and employees who lost their homes. There were also countless people who didn’t necessarily lose their homes but were still displaced due to factors like smoke damage or whose house survived the fires, but it was left as literally the only house on the block. Fire recovery has been an ongoing, top-of-mind issue for us. Then to add to it, now there are threats of ICE raids and warfare in Iran. It’s just really heavy times,” she somberly explained.

McKenzie revealed a staggering statistic that puts into context just how many people’s lives were uprooted and irreversibly damaged as a result of the fires, saying that about 1,500 of the district’s 3,000 employees and 10,000 of the 14,000 students lived in the mandatory evacuation zone.

For McKenzie, serving and uplifting the Pasadena Unified School District hits close to home. Not only did she come up in these schools, but her mom, stepdad, and paternal grandfather did as well, making it inextricable from her identity and family lineage.

McGuire, who is on the board of the Charter Oak Unified School District in Covina, California, and is also the CEO of the nonprofit organization Young Invincibles, echoed these concerns stemming from this turmoil, underscoring how much they are impacting their communities.

“I live in the San Gabriel Valley, but we were not in the fire,” added McGuire, “so I’m always careful when I’m asked how I’m doing because so many people have lost so much. In my community, people suffered from wind damage, but we still have our homes, right? I think the biggest thing when we’re asking how folks are doing and how people are feeling is that now, as a result of the fires, a lot of our families are doubling up. Many families in Patrice’s district have now moved to this part of the San Gabriel Valley to live with other family members. So a lot of our issues will be the same – it’s one reason that it’s so important for districts to work together. We are also struggling with the threat of ICE raids, and we are struggling with declining enrollment, like many districts in our state. So, you know, we’re just trying to keep our head above water.”

McKenzie provided some insight into the crucial role that she sees her, McGuire, and educators across the nation playing during such tumultuous and tenuous times.

“A school is supposed to be a safe place,” said McKenzie, “so we’re trying to figure out how to maintain that ability to support students, educate students, feed students, and provide shelter and a safe haven for them to land.”

What Platforms Did Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Kristin McGuire Run On?

Because of her roots in Pasadena, McKenzie’s care as a board member goes beyond simply serving on the board – it goes deep into what happens in that district.

“My platform hasn’t really changed,” reflected McKenzie when asked about how she has had to tweak the platform she initially had when she was running due to what’s happening in the world, government, and Pasadena area, “because I really ran on three things: stability, service, and safety. Stability meaning having our education system serve our students and provide them with a good quality of life, service meaning that the government as a whole should serve our communities and the constituents well, so holding them accountable and taking them to task when necessary, and safety meaning having good parks, infrastructure, and public safety that actually serves people and doesn’t harm them, so those things I think are still very much valid, current, and timely.”

However, McKenzie was transparent about the fact that it would be impossible not to make adjustments, considering what has been happening out in the world and at the federal level.

“The thing that has become more acute since then is the ever-increasing need for affordable housing after the fire,” explained McKenzie as she reflected on the diaspora of residents across Los Angeles and California as a whole who were pushed out of their homes and communities, “and one of those things we want to do is build workforce housing. We’ve tried to make headway as a district on that, and we’ve had a bit of a potential setback in that we had a challenge from the Historic Preservation Committee wanting to designate the school that we had identified for housing as historic property, creating an obstacle in being able to build. That recommendation was not upheld, so we’ve luckily been able to overcome that.”

McKenzie recognized the resilience of the students, however, saying that the students have been incredibly courageous in terms of wanting to continue to attend school, be with their friends, and maintain that connection to succeed academically.

Similar to McKenzie, McGuire has a deep personal connection to the district she selflessly and tirelessly serves, saying that she graduated from Covina High School, and her children attended school in the district. Her passion for her work is infectious.

“A fun fact about our school is that, while we have a small population, we actually have 30 languages spoken across our student population,” explained McQuire, “so that means we have a higher percentage of English language learners and a diverse pool of parents. For me, communication and transparency are really important because we have so many different types of families.”

As for her platform when she was running for office and whether or not that has changed in light of the current climate, McGuire’s experience aligns with McKenzie’s.

“My platform was pretty simple,” said McGuire. “The backstory there is that I was a parent and am a parent of kids in the district, so I noticed that things weren’t right, and as typical black women do, I decided I was going to fix it. One is that I wanted to make sure every student had a pathway after high school, either to a career or higher education, and I wanted to ensure that our high school counselors were helping our students get to where they wanted to be. I also wanted stronger transparency between the district and parents because there was a huge information gap that was making it difficult for parents to understand how to get their students the services they need. Lastly and most importantly, I wanted to focus on student safety – I’m a firm believer that when unfortunate crises happen at school campuses, communities like mine, sleepy suburbs, are always the ones who say they never thought it would happen there, but statistically, that’s where it always happens, right? So, school gates and other security measures were top-of-mind. The safety part has definitely evolved because gates won’t protect students from the threats at hand, like ICE raids,” she said.

McGuire made an important distinction, explaining what safety encompasses, saying that as she has gained more experience, she has learned that safety comes in many forms.

“When I first ran, I was thinking mostly about school shootings, like physical and on-the-nose student safety,” said McGuire, “but now I’m thinking of other safety measures, like security from ICE raids or addressing a lack of resources for diversity programming from the federal level. There are a lot of different components of student safety we have to consider.”

After introducing our luminary guests, we dove right into the issues at hand, starting with the basic question: What is the purpose of the Department of Education when it comes to funding schools?

Does the Department of Education Fund Schools?

I turned to McGuire because her position as the CEO of the nonprofit organization Young Invincibles has given her a deep understanding of federal government funding. I started by asking her, What is the role of the Department of Education in federal funding for schools?

“In a nutshell, yes, we do receive federal funding,” replied McGuire. “However, the bulk of our funding comes from the state and not the federal government, and that’s thanks to a proposition we passed called Prop 98. It ensures that public schools receive a minimum share of the state budget – our funding is tied to a DA, which is the average daily attendance. You might hear very tongue-in-cheek remarks that schools get paid for the kids to actually be at school, and that’s where that comes from. That’s why it’s so important in public education that every student is present and ready to learn, and it really highlights the devastating impact that the fires could have by displacing so many,” she said.

While McGuire said that public schools in California rely heavily on state funding, she said that does not mean that federal funding isn’t important.

“Public school districts do receive federal funding,” explained McGuire, “but they’re tied to special programs like special education or the nutrition program and support for low-income students through Title One. The Department of Education manages these programs. Again, that’s based on the size of your district and how many students there are.”

As to whether or not the Department of Education sets policy for schools or whether those are set by schools at a local or state level, McGuire offered a colorful analogy.

“It’s a combination,” explained McGuire. “If you’re familiar with the movie Forrest Gump, you might remember what the mom had to do to get him to go to school in the film. That’s because the United States Department of Education did not exist, so there were no rules for disabled students and students who had special needs to enroll in public education. Now, the United States Department of Education sets the tone for how we’re supposed to treat every student in our country and how we’re supposed to serve them. That then goes down to each state and is administered and monitored by the state, and then those policies are carried out by the individual state,” she elaborated.

How Have President Donald Trump’s Department of Education Changes Impacted a School District Like Yours?

We then began discussing some of the recent changes to the Department of Education under President Trump, and McGuire offered her personal experience, saying that right now feels more like the quiet before the storm because not much has happened for her yet.

“We actually haven’t experienced a lot of change yet,” revealed McGuire, “but we did receive a letter asking us to recertify that we were not breaking any new DEI rules and that we were not discriminating against any groups of students, which was odd because we have to certify every year already. So, this additional step seemed a little more vindictive than preventative, to tell you the truth. At least, those are the optics. So we actually received guidance from the California Department of Education and through the Los Angeles County Office of Education to not sign the new verification.”

McKenzie added that she believes this letter went to all school districts across the state, which accounts for approximately 1,000 districts, and that they were instructed by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction that they would respond on behalf of all California school districts.

I then asked McGuire if she has seen any of her special education, nutrition, or Title I programs be impacted by President Trump’s Dept of Education changes and whether or not it has created friction between state and federal policy.

“As of right now, we haven’t really seen much of a direct impact,” reflected McGuire, “but we are watching very closely – especially as federal leaders are threatening to withhold funds over state policies, like transgender student participation and DEI initiatives. We also have a state law to incorporate ethnic studies into our curriculum, so adherence to state policy is almost in conflict with federal policy. We’re just waiting to see how all of this plays out.”

What Are President Trump’s Department of Education DEI Changes?

As for the new Department of Education DEI rules that both McKenzie and McGuire were referring to, I asked them to clarify whether or not it implied that teachers will not teach cultural history in their classrooms or have certain books.

“It wasn’t that specific,” said McKenzie, “but it’s implied based on the rhetoric that we have been hearing in the news because we already have to sign a disclosure of non-discrimination. That’s already the law. So to send another one to double down carries a very specific intent.”

McKenzie shared that her school district is having a very similar experience to McGuire’s.

“Our school district is operating very much the same way as Charter Oak,” said McKenzie. “We are watching very carefully and monitoring, but we are still conducting business as usual until directed or mandated otherwise – it’s really just waiting for the smoke to clear,” she said.

Why Are There California School Budget Cuts?

McGuire also shared some insights and concerns regarding California education funding for programs, citing things happening at the state level and how her district has been impacted, explaining that California is going through its own crisis as far as budgets go.

“What’s going on at the state budget level directly impacts public school districts across the state,” explained McGuire, “so the budget uncertainty we face from year to year creates barriers for us to be able to plan long-term. You have to realize that we employ teachers and other staff across the district, so we need to be able to help prepare a budget that allows us to keep up with the cost of living. We’re facing a teacher shortage crisis in our state, and when we aren’t sure how much money we’ll receive from the state, we can’t even recruit the talent that we need to ensure our students receive the best education that we can possibly provide – it has a real ripple effect. Student outcomes continue to grow, so the problem becomes how can we increase test scores and student outcomes if we don’t have the budget to bring in the best possible talent to make that happen.”

McGuire said that their districts had come to rely on COVID-era relief funds to improve the quality of education, but now that those are ceasing, this is creating significant issues.

“I think what we have now is something that is workable for me,” said McGuire, “but the largest issue is that we received so many one-time funds during COVID that we were able to do really great things for our students. We were able to bring in instructional aides, K-12 counselors, and do a lot of things that we should already be doing for students. But now that that funding has expired, we’re going to have to reduce those services for our students.”

McGuire says this comes down to the state making a decision to invest in education.

“I would like our state to invest in education in the way we invest in other things like the criminal justice system,” said McGuire, “because we know that if we invested in education, we wouldn’t have such a strong need for the amount of jails and prisons that we have. So, if we make those investments at the beginning, we wouldn’t have to make them at the end.”

McKenzie said that, word for word, McGuire’s experience has been her own, adding her own insights into the challenges that schools statewide are facing.

“I’d like to underscore Board Member McGuire’s comments word-for-word because we experience much of the same thing,” said McKenzie. “We, like other districts across the state, have also had to adopt a three-year budget based on one year of state funding knowledge. So we’re doing a lot of projections and extrapolations on data that isn’t necessarily very solid, so it causes us to have to make decisions about staffing, compensation, and health and welfare benefits without a lot of the really hard data you need to make informed, strategic decisions. It puts us in a very difficult position year after year,” she said.

What Should the Public Know About the Impact of President Trump’s Department of Education Budget Cuts?

When it comes to what elected officials like Honorable McGuire and Honorable McKenzie would like the public to know about how their district is responding to these cuts, McGuire shared her thoughts, applauding the community for stepping up and providing a message of hope.

“I would like to say that when I was talking earlier about the Ethnic Studies, I would like to mention that we are very proud at Charter Oak for being early adopters of the new Ethnic Studies law, and we approved two new Ethnic Studies courses this year to be launched for the first time this upcoming school year, which is a year earlier than required,” said McGuire, “ because we sincerely think cultural sensitivity and appropriate historical context are essential to a high-quality education.”

However, she said that ICE activity in her school district has been an immeasurable disruptor.

McGuire continued, “It’s caused a lot of fear and concern amongst our families to the point where some families have even decided to keep their students out of our summer school programming because they are exercising an abundance of caution, and understandably so. But our small but mighty Charter Oak community of parents has come together, rallied, and created carpools to transport students so their parents won’t have to drive them. Our community has really stepped up to help protect and defend students who go to school there. It’s been an immense source of pride to watch. School is supposed to be a safe place, and we shouldn’t have to take these types of measures for students to be educated, but this is the reality.”

In the end, McGuire wants to be a reassuring voice and presence in her community, a bastion of hope that reminds her community that they can persevere through these trying times.

“We’ve continued to reassure our families that we will protect them, keep gates locked, and ensure students are safe,” said McGuire, “but at the same time, it’s a really difficult situation that we’re all in as school leaders when our president is working in direct conflict with the values that California Public Education stands for.”

As for McKenzie’s district, she said that communication has been an emphasis.

“We as a district are definitely communicating to our families and communities, as well as city, state, and federal leaders, that our schools are going to continue to be safe spaces,” said McKenzie. “We are supporting our families, we’re supporting our students, and we’re ensuring that anyone who wants to come to school can do so by providing a mechanism for that to happen and making sure everyone is safe when they’re on our campuses. We are also working really hard to continue to make sure we are delivering resources, information, and support to families that are still very much in recovery from the Eden Fire,” she added.

What Parting Words Do You Have About the National Climate and President Trump’s Department of Education Policy Changes?

As for parting words for the Legal Lens audience, McKenzie shared rousing thoughts.

“Schools are centers of community, and without strong schools, we do not have strong communities, and we do not have strong leaders in the future,” said McKenzie, “so we cannot afford to lose funding and resources – defunding education is defunding our future.”

McGuire emphasized the importance of safety and security.

“Our job is to make sure that every student feels safe, seen, and supported,” said McGuire, “because they are what gives us hope. The kids who just graduated didn’t get to go to middle school because of the COVID pandemic, but they still graduated and excelled. They are going to college. These kids are resilient, and we need to do our part to ensure we nurture that resilience.”

Do You Want to Learn More About President Trump’s Department of Education Budget Cuts, California Department of Education Funding, State-Level Budget Cuts in Public Schools, and the Emergence of an American Education Crisis from Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Kristin McGuire? Listen and Subscribe to the Legal Lens!

This week’s conversation with Honorable Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Honorable Kristin McGuire on the Legal Lens Podcast offers a crucial and timely examination of President Trump’s Department of Education budget cuts and California Department of Education funding to provide a better understanding of the profound impact state-level budget cuts in public schools have on vulnerable communities, particularly in California. Their insights highlight both the immense complexities of education funding and the unwavering dedication of local leaders. It’s clear that while public education faces significant threats, the resilience of students and communities, actively navigated by individuals like McKenzie and McGuire, is vital for the future.

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