By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com
Recent news that the federal government has frozen nearly $7 billion in Congressionally-appropriated Department of Education funding has impacted communities across the country, and Lee County is no different.
Lee County Schools could lose just over $1 million in federal funding if the move by the administration of President Donald Trump stands, according to the district. Statewide, North Carolina could be looking at a loss of $165 million, about 10 percent of the funding the state receives from the federal government.
Lee County Schools spokesman James Alverson said the $1 million loss is a “worst case scenario.” The federal dollars are used for programs like English as a Second Language (ESL), Academic and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programming, migrant education, enrichment and after school programs, and professional development for teachers. But Alverson said some cuts in federal funding were anticipated and the district “tried to budget accordingly to mitigate the impact to our students and staff if the cuts did come to fruition.”
Asked to expand on that, Lee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Chris Dossenbach said “based on ongoing trends and conversations at the federal level, we became increasingly concerned over the past several months about the possibility of significant reductions to our federal education funding. In response, our team took proactive steps to prepare. We made the difficult decision not to fill certain vacancies that were previously funded through federal dollars, shifted some positions to alternative funding sources, and built our 2025-2026 budget as conservatively as possible. Our goal was to create a cushion that would allow us to continue supporting students and staff without immediate disruptions if federal funds were delayed or reduced.”
Lee County Schools’ overall budget for 2025-26 is $109 million, with federal funds accounting for just shy of $12 million.
The Trump administration announced the freeze of $6.8 billion in funding on June 30, just one day before it was to be released. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who says the freeze could cost 1,000 educator jobs across North Carolina, has joined a multi-state lawsuit which claims the freeze is illegal because the funding was authorized by Congress.
While I am beyond grateful for Dr. Dossenbach and his team doing what they can to try and mitigate the disaster this administration is looming over Education, it is unfortunate that this had to be considered at all. Hopefully AG Jackson and the other state AG’s fighting this blatently illegal holding of funds can win this fight quickly and we can start focus on providing for the next generation again to the best of our abilities.
Honestly sounds like the schools need to re-evaluate programs. Not really a federal issue. Seems to be a nationwide problem not just Lee County. I am pleased the federal government has a backbone and is looking out for the tax payers. Your opinion may disagree with me, but that in turn means that I disagree with you. We are all entitled to our opinions.
The federal dollars are used for programs like:
English as a Second Language (ESL). Isn’t English North Carolina’s first language? Why are we responsible for teaching a language our citizens should have learned at home? Unless we have the burden of teaching families who are here illegally.
Academic and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programming. Need more information on this.
migrant education: not sure why this would need separate education. Shouldn’t this be regular education.
Enrichment and after school programs: I paid for my children’s enrichment and after school programs. This sounds like a parenting issue not a school issue.
professional development for teachers. If professional development is an employee benefit then that should be the employers responsibility. Otherwise it is an individual preference.
How about addressing the following failures first.In Lee County Schools, 42% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 50% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 27% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 25% tested at or above that level for math. And 55% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 48% tested at or above that level for math. These stats are horrible. Is anybody concerned?
Yeah your stats prove that the past 14 years of Republican control of public schools have been an absolute disaster — we agree here.
I agree perhaps we should look at these programs and the wasteful spending before starting the woe is me. No I do not agree with ESL . Why should we cover that? When my immigrant relatives came over they assimilated, this is ridiculous. No one handed them help.
AIG which mine are in , if need be I can pay for this . The reason we need this is because they can’t teach because some of the class doesn’t speak English. Seen this for a fact as a volunteer and why we moved to a different county , different school. Maybe stop pandering.
After school, I pay for . Didn’t know that was even a thing that was “free”.
Maybe parents should start being responsible for their kids because frankly I’m sick of paying for it.
Again , look at the stats .
I heard the county cut tutoring for the ACT but had a fully staffed ESL summer school. I’m sure there are different pots of money but still. It’s frustrating.
COULD? Why would you base an entire article on could? Let’s take a look at what programs will get funded and which ones won’t regardless of who’s president.
The comment section shows why education is important. It seems as if most of you don’t understand what ESL is. I would be willing to bet that some of have even uttered the words “You’re in America now, you should speak english!”
Gates – Your second sentence states that you don’t support ESL, then in the next paragraph you point out the issue with some of the children in school not speaking english. You then claim that is why you moved to a different county. Wow, you would think that you would be ESL’s biggest cheerleader with that back story!
Homeschool Mom – You seem to miss the point that our school system is the “Employer” that is helping to provide professional development as a benefit. That development helps them be more successful in teaching the children. When they are more successful, our children’s grades improve.
You all deserve the society you get. Your children deserve better.
It is not the taxpayers responsibility to have kids learn English. Was it the taxpayers responsibility to teach Italian grandparents to learn English? No , they assimilated.
Clearly, you didn’t get it. These kids are holding others back because the funds and attention get focused there.
SMH, Thanks for your opinion. I didn’t and don’t miss anything. I still stand with my original comment.
ESL- you are right. The comment section shows much ignorance coming out of our rural county. ESL should not be the only focus of money, but clearly one of many priorities. Whether the children are here legally or not, it is not their fault and they deserve a chance. If we do not make a change when children are young, society does not improve. Stop with the racism and hate. We have a very diverse, small county and our future begins with educating all youth. Don’t pick and choose which children benefit. Be creative about how we move forward. And money clearly does not solve all issues- a lot of this is not a funding issue.