Trump Administration’s Budget Would Eliminate Federal Funding for Charter Schools

THE TRUMP administration would eliminate federal funding for public charter schools under its budget request for 2020, instead allowing states to tap into a $19 billion pool of money to spend on K-12 education as they see fit.

The proposal – from an administration that has made school choice its No. 1 education priority – stands in stark contrast to the last three budget proposals, all of which included major funding increases for the $440 million federal charter school program.

Once a priority, now the federal charter school program is one of 29 elementary and secondary education programs that the White House says it considers "narrowly focused or duplicative," which would be rolled into a new $19.4 billion block grant. States would be able to use that money to establish new public charter schools and replicate successful ones, but also for things like arts and civics education, school safety, teacher training, support for homeless students and much more.