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With a new law cutting Medicaid funding to certain clinics, Planned Parenthood estimated 200 of its clinics in 24 states are at risk of closure with the cuts, and nearly all of those clinics — 90% — are in states where abortion is legal. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Planned Parenthood had already begun the arduous task of closing some clinics and curtailing services immediately after Congress passed the massive budget reconciliation bill that included a new law cutting Medicaid funding to certain clinics on July 3.
Now that a federal judge only partially blocked the enforcement of the bill, that situation may only get worse in the coming weeks and months.
The provision – which the organization said directly targeted their services for defunding and fulfills a longstanding goal of anti-abortion advocates and many Republican elected officials – prohibits Medicaid funding for clinics that provide abortion care and billed Medicaid more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023. Federal Medicaid dollars cannot be used for abortion care, except in cases of rape, incest or certain medical conditions, and are instead most often used to provide standard reproductive health care at little to no cost. That includes treatment for sexually transmitted infections, cancer screenings and contraception. Planned Parenthood provides services for about 2 million patients every year, and 64% of clinics are in rural areas or places with health care provider shortages.
Within days of President Donald Trump’s signature on the bill, Planned Parenthood and affiliates in Utah and Massachusetts sued federal authorities, quickly winning a temporary restraining order. But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s order only blocked enforcement against one of the affiliates that filed the lawsuit, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, and affiliates “who will not provide abortion services” as of Oct. 1. Clinics that didn’t bill Medicaid more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023 are also protected from cuts.
On Tuesday afternoon, attorneys for the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to reverse the preliminary injunction decision.
Clinic and affiliate leaders say the fallout from the funding measure has already resulted in chaos, and they are still trying to determine what it means for their operations.
Erica Wilson-Domer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, told States Newsroom on Thursday that they temporarily paused Medicaid services after the bill became law, but were back to regular operations under the restraining order. She acknowledged it will vary by state and county, and it’s unclear how the clinics will respond to Monday’s preliminary injunction.
“We have a saying that if you’ve seen one Planned Parenthood, you’ve seen one Planned Parenthood,” Wilson-Domer said. “We sort of all have to independently make a decision based on our financial situation and what’s going on in our states.”
Each affiliate operates as an independent nonprofit organization that can make its own financial and administrative decisions. Similar to the landscape for abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, the availability of services for Medicaid patients at Planned Parenthood and other high-volume reproductive health clinics now largely depends on where someone lives.
The national group estimated 200 of its clinics in 24 states are at risk of closure with the cuts, and nearly all of those clinics — 90% — are in states where abortion is legal. In 12 states, approximately 75% of abortion-providing Planned Parenthood health centers are threatened. The entire organization has about 600 clinics in 48 states.
Wilson-Domer said even before the budget bill became law, the clinics limited what contraceptives they could offer after the U.S. Health and Human Services Department froze Title X funds for specific clinics that the agency said provided care to undocumented immigrants and promoted messages of diversity, equity and inclusion. The loss of that funding increased the costs of obtaining contraception such as Nexplanon from $425 to more than $1,200, and no longer made it feasible for the clinics to offer.
Two clinics in rural Ohio that did not provide abortion services will close on Aug. 1, the Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region announced on Thursday. Those clinics provided contraception, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and other wellness services.
“Our challenge isn’t just the federal lawsuit, but we’re in a state … where the state legislature pays no attention to the needs of its community,” said Nan Whaley, president and CEO of the Ohio affiliate, during a press conference on Thursday. She added that Ohio also passed a budget bill that allows the rollback of Medicaid expansion if federal support for the program drops by even 1%.
Although the affiliate’s four other clinics will remain open, they are no longer accepting or billing Medicaid for services. In an emailed statement, spokesperson Maya McKenzie said the restraining order wasn’t enough.
“For many smaller affiliates, the risk of the federal government requesting back pay if the order or an injunction expires is too great,” McKenzie said.
In a court brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on July 14 opposing Planned Parenthood’s request for an injunction, DOJ attorneys said, “an injunction won’t provide the certainty that Planned Parenthood wants, because the government will be able to deny (or claw back) payments if and when it ultimately succeeds.”
In Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood Keystone said it temporarily paused Medicaid billing for contraceptive devices such as IUDs, Nexplanon, and Depo Provera, among other services, while it assessed the legal risks of the new law. Instead, sliding scale fees and referrals to other providers were made. After the restraining order, CEO Melissa Reed said they resumed billing.
“That court order is set to expire soon, and the legal landscape remains uncertain,” Reed wrote in an emailed statement. “We’re hopeful for a lasting resolution, but regardless of the outcome, our focus will always be on making sure patients can continue getting the care they need.”
Elsewhere, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania said they could not share internal protocols but remained committed to protecting access to care for every patient.
Affiliates in the West, including Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette in Oregon and Washington, said their nine health centers are providing the full scope of usual services. That includes the Ontario Health Center, which is a critical border clinic for patients in western Idaho, which has a near-total abortion ban. Christopher Coburn, the affiliate’s chief of external affairs, said they are not limiting appointments for patients covered by Medicaid either. Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, which has health centers in Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana and Kentucky, also said it is not limiting services.
Like many others who provide family planning services, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio CEO Wilson-Domer said the cuts to Medicaid won’t affect abortion rates, and will likely increase them further by cutting off contraception access.
“What I hope people are really thinking about is that statistic that 1 in 4 women will visit Planned Parenthood in their lifetime, and … preventative care is what’s actually being defunded here,” she said. “If the intention is to reduce abortion, this is the exact opposite of that.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana speaks to reporters about the Republican budget reconciliation package at a weekly press conference on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are headed home early for their August break after an uproar over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files all but halted any possibility of floor action.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he’s sending his members back to their districts until September to avoid “political games” relating to a bipartisan effort pressuring the release of government investigative documents on Epstein. The financier was a Florida sex offender who died by suicide in 2019 in his New York City jail cell, according to authorities, where he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Epstein enjoyed a wide circle of wealthy, powerful friends, including President Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that it reviewed a 2003 birthday greeting from Trump to Epstein featuring a cryptic message and hand-drawn naked woman, leading Trump to promptly sue the publication.
“We’re for maximum transparency. We’re engaging in that right now. We don’t need political games,” Johnson said at a weekly press conference where the Louisiana Republican was asked about an effort by his own members to compel the release of case material.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has joined California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna in spearheading an effort to force a vote on releasing what are commonly referred to as the Epstein files. The procedural move, called a discharge petition, could be ready for the floor in September if Massie and Khanna can gather signatures from a majority of members.
“I don’t understand Thomas Massie’s motivation. I really don’t. I don’t know how his mind works,” Johnson continued.
He said the White House needs “space” to produce documents and is “in the process” of releasing materials related to the Epstein case.
“There’s no purpose for Congress to push the administration to do something it’s already doing,” he said.
On a separate track, the GOP-led House Rules Committee, the last stop for legislation before it reaches the floor, recessed Monday evening before Democrats on the panel could force their Republican counterparts to vote on amendments related to release of the Epstein information.
The bills stuck in that committee, largely to do with immigration, permitting and public lands, will no longer go to the floor this week.
Last floor votes are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. House members will not return until Sept. 2.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on social media Tuesday that federal prosecutors are seeking an interview with Epstein’s one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for conspiring with the financier to sexually abuse girls.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday that the department’s attempt to interview Maxwell “sounds appropriate,” adding that he was uninformed about the matter and downplaying the relevance of the Epstein case.
“I don’t know about it, but I think it’s something that … sounds appropriate,” he said.
Blanche was Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney. Asked if Blanche’s involvement in the interview raised any concerns, Trump said no. Democrats have used Trump’s social relationship with Epstein to imply he may have been aware of Epstein’s illegal activities.
Trump urged reporters to drop the Epstein case and instead focus on a recent declaration from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that former President Barack Obama improperly ordered an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that Trump eventually won. Democrats denounced the report.
Trump has spent the last couple weeks dismissing loud concerns from Republicans and his voter base since a July 7 Justice Department memo denied the existence of an Epstein “client list” and concluded the department would not publish any of the files.
After receiving intense criticism, Trump ordered the department on July 17 to release grand jury testimony in the case.
The president called his supporters “weaklings” for expressing concern about the Epstein “hoax,” in a July 16 post on his online platform Truth Social. Trump also told reporters last week that the so-called Epstein files were “made up” by former presidents Obama and Joe Biden.
The president’s supporters, including members of his current administration, have fixated for years on unreleased details surrounding the financier’s involvement in sex trafficking, including possible names of clients and the circumstances around Epstein’s death.
According to federal charging documents, Epstein sexually abused dozens of teenage girls at his residences in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. The Justice Department has concluded that Epstein likely had more than 1,000 victims.
Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.
Federal agents block people protesting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm in Ventura County, California, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. House Democrats on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump’s administration for what they called “cruelty” and “lawlessness” in carrying out mass deportations of migrants without legal status.
At a forum at the U.S. Capitol, Democrats who sit on the House Homeland Security Committee and others rebuked the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown and its impact on communities, bringing in prominent voices from immigration and legal advocacy groups and a U.S. Marine veteran who said his father was beaten by federal immigration officers.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, an Illinois Democrat, slammed the Department of Homeland Security, calling the agency “unaccountable.”
“They continue to break the law and bypass congressional authority to conceal the ways in which they are abusing (the) power of DHS to violate our rights, undermine due process and tear our communities apart,” she said.
“Under the Trump administration, DHS is an out-of-control, abusive terror force that disregards law, rejects accountability and tramples on the very foundations of our Constitution,” Ramirez added.
Rep. Troy Carter, a Louisiana Democrat and committee member, said “like many Americans, I’m deeply troubled by the cruel and profoundly un-American mass deportation agenda being undertaken by Donald Trump and his allies.”
“These harsh policies are not about public safety or border security — we have seen children torn from their parents, a flagrant disregard for basic due process protections and individuals targeted for exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said.
“Congress must uphold the rights of all people in the United States. We need immigration policy rooted in dignity, fairness and due process, not cruelty and authoritarianism.”
The forum came less than three weeks after Trump signed a massive tax and spending cut bill into law that provides roughly $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement.
NPR reported Monday that DHS is preparing to use military bases in New Jersey and Indiana to detain immigrants who unlawfully entered the United States.
“What is happening right now is just plain wrong,” Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, said. “We’re all for immigration enforcement and smart border security, but the targeting of innocent people who are just trying to work hard and make a living, the targeting of the elderly, of the sick, of U.S. citizens, of students by an anonymous army of masked men is not who we are as a country.”
Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran, said his father, an immigrant who does not have legal status, was “violently attacked and detained by federal immigration agents” in Orange County, California.
Barranco said his father, a landscaper, was working in June when masked men approached and quickly surrounded him and did not identify themselves or present any warrant.
He said his father was terrified and ran.
“They chased him through the parking lot and into a crowded street,” Barranco said. “They pointed guns at him, pepper-sprayed him. They tackled him to the ground and kicked him. They restrained and handcuffed him. They dragged him into an unmarked vehicle and pushed him into the back seat. As many have already seen, while several agents were holding him down, another beat him repeatedly in the neck and head area, over and over and over again.”
Barranco depicted the brutal conditions his father endured while in federal custody and said it’s been a nightmare for his family since his father was detained.
Barranco said that while his father was eventually released on bond, “the trauma that day and the brokenness of this system remains in our hearts, and we are still under a cloud.”
The Trump administration also faced scrutiny from the panel over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wearing masks during immigration raids.
Jesse Franzblau, associate director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said ICE agents wearing masks with no identifying information is not proper, but “quite dangerous” and “puts everyone further at risk.”
“I mean, we’ve seen people impersonating ICE, wearing masks and saying that they’re ICE and then carrying out abuses against other people,” Franzblau said, adding that “it puts communities at more risk when you have masked agents, federal agents that should be identifying themselves, going into communities and carrying out sweeping operations like this.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment Tuesday regarding the forum.
In a Tuesday press release, the department defended ICE, saying the agency has targeted the “worst of the worst” during immigration arrests.
“We will not allow sanctuary politicians, activist hacks, or rioters stand in our way of protecting the American people,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the department, said in the Tuesday statement.
To mark six months since Trump took office on Sunday, the department touted a long list of its actions, including on immigration enforcement and border security.
The agency described the list as “victories” in Trump’s and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s “mission to secure the homeland and Make America Safe Again,” including record low numbers of illegal border crossings.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center)
Republicans on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to rename the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for first lady Melania Trump.
The panel adopted, 33-25, a package of amendments to the bill funding the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies for fiscal 2026 that included a provision to designate the First Lady Melania Trump Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The vote was mostly party line, with Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington joining all Republicans present in voting in favor.
The ranking Democrat on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, Chellie Pingree of Maine, said she was “surprised” by the provision.
“Republicans snuck in something that I think is slightly divisive, which is renaming one section of the Kennedy Center after a family member of this administration,” Pingree said during the full committee markup, a meeting when a bill is debated, amended and voted on.
Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, responded that the name change was “an excellent way to recognize (the first lady’s) support and commitment to promoting the arts.”
“Yes, we renamed the Opera House at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center,” Simpson said.
The Kennedy Center is considered one of the nation’s premier performing arts venues.
President Donald Trump removed several members of the Kennedy Center board in February, replacing them with loyalists who elected him board chair. He also fired the cultural center’s president, Deborah Rutter, and replaced her on an interim basis with Richard Grenell, who has held several roles over Trump’s two presidencies.
The House Interior-Environment spending bill proposes nearly $38 billion for departments and agencies covered by the measure, an overall spending cut of 6% compared to current levels that mainly comes from chopping 23% of the EPA’s budget.
The Interior Department would see a cut of less than one-half of 1% of its current funding, according to a summary provided by committee Republicans.
Arts and culture funding would also see major cuts in the bill.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would each see 35% cuts, bringing each agency’s funding to $135 million. The Smithsonian Institution would receive $961.3 million, representing a 12% cut. And the Kennedy Center itself would see a 17.2% cut, to $37.2 million.
The full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill, with the amendment, 33-28.
Appropriations bills must win 60 votes in the Senate to become law, which generally makes it difficult for overly partisan provisions to be included in the final text.
The corresponding Senate subcommittee has not released its version of the bill, but is scheduled to consider it Thursday.
KUSD's referendum failed in February, and as the state budget process progressed, the district had a $19 million budget gap to fill. A participant at a February rally rolls out a scroll with the names of every school district that has gone to referendum since the last state budget. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.
Between the Wisconsin state budget providing no new general aid to schools and the Trump administration withholding federal funds, Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) Superintendent Jeff Weiss and Chief Financial Officer Tarik Hamdan say school funding has never been so uncertain.
“We really, right now, are at a very unsure, very uncertain time, and it just makes planning extremely difficult,” Weiss told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview.
The district leaders were among many public school advocates who for months lobbied for large investments in Wisconsin’s K-12 schools during the state budget process that wrapped up earlier this month.
Weiss said state funding for schools that has not kept pace with inflation over the past 16 years has created the difficult financial situation that Kenosha and other districts across the state are facing and are the reason so many have gone to local taxpayers through referendum to ask for more money.
A recent Wisconsin Policy Forum report found the state’s per pupil education spending has fallen below the national average. In the 2023 fiscal year, Wisconsin spent $14,882 per pupil on public education — 9.9% less than the national average of $16,526 per pupil.
KUSD sought a referendum early this year to bring in $23 million annually for five years to help the school district meet its safety improvements, staffing, curriculum, technology and major maintenance costs. The process was controversial in the community, dividing residents and even eliciting boos at a chorus concert.
The referendum failed in February, and as the state budget process progressed, the district had a $19 million budget gap to fill. In April, Weiss asked lawmakers at a public hearing to address the long-term problem so he and the district could spend less time struggling to get local taxpayers to pay more and more time on student learning and improving educational offerings.
“This is not how I want to spend our time in the school district,” Weiss said at the time.
District leaders were hoping for two main changes in the budget: an increase in the state’s share of special education costs to cover 60% and an increase to the state’s general aid to schools of $415 per pupil in year one and $430 per pupil in year two.
“Special education reimbursement at 60%… would have generated about $11 million,” Weiss said. “The additional per pupil increases would have added around $2 million, a little bit less than that, so together, these two items would have generated about $13 million of additional funding for KUSD.”
Ultimately, the bipartisan budget deal approved by lawmakers and Evers provided an increase for special education funding but no general aid increases. Evers has defended the education portions of the budget, saying it helps with school funding in a “significant way.”
“That’s a good thing, because we did exactly what the school districts were asking us to do,” Evers said.
Education advocates haven’t had the same reaction. The Wisconsin Public Education Network called on lawmakers to vote against the budget, and for Evers to veto it. Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, president of Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teacher’s union, said the budget was “a complete betrayal of public schools” and schools could not handle the “double-blow” from federal cuts to public education and the state’s inadequate investments.
“Given the ugly truth about this budget, educators are exploring every option to force politicians to bring forward a long-term solution to Wisconsin’s school funding crisis,” Wirtz-Olsen said. “This state can’t keep shattering the foundation of our public schools and expect the professionals who teach them to pick up the pieces.”
For his part, Weiss said he was glad to see some movement from lawmakers, who agreed to raise the special education reimbursement rate to 42% in the first year and 45% in the second year of the budget — a significant jump from the current 30% and the biggest increase in over 30 years. However, the total cost picked up by the state — $207 million in year one and $297 million in year two — still falls short of what districts need.
“The fact that there was movement — I was glad to see that,” Weiss said. “Is it game changing? No, not by any means.”
The district is now trying to plan with the new budget.
Kenosha leaders said they are anticipating the special ed reimbursement rate will fall below the estimated levels. That’s because the pool of money for special education is finite as a “sum certain” allocation, meaning if costs for districts are higher than estimated the state won’t pay more and the percentage of those costs the state covers will go down.
“We’re expecting to get 39[%] just based on some of the historical patterns of sum certain funding,” Weiss said.
Weiss said district officials are expecting about $3 million per year in additional funding from the boost — $10 million per year less than what they initially hoped for from the state budget.
The district has already made significant cuts of about $5 million to help balance its 2025-26 budget. Staffing is the largest expense and most of the cuts came from the elimination of nearly 43 positions. Prior to seeking a referendum, the school district had already closed schools, including five elementary schools and a middle school, and made other cuts to staff and programs.
Salaries and benefits are increasing, driving up costs.
“Health insurance trends have been increasing at about 10 to 13% each year alone. The salary component, when you’re talking about inflationary increases… and movement on salary schedule just in recent times, is somewhere around 4.5%,” Hamdan said. “There’s all these factors that make budget planning… very, very difficult.”
Weiss said the district also put some items on hold, including security upgrades, staff raises and curriculum.
“As we’re able to find funding, we’ll start putting some of those [on] short term holds — trying to fund those,” Weiss said. “We know that we can’t stop buying curriculum materials or fixing our buildings or buying technology.”
Weiss said there is also some pressure on compensation from neighboring school districts, one of which recently succeeded in passing a referendum.
“How do we stay competitive with compensation for our employees?” Weiss said, adding that the state budget money will likely be used for labor costs and other items on short-term hold.
Long-term items, including controlled entrances for seven schools, will continue to be on hold.
“We’re going to have to find another funding stream for that,” Weiss said. “At this point, we haven’t identified what that funding stream is, so those are some of the things that we have taken into account as we look at the budget.”
Even with the failed referendum, Kenosha’s district leaders are concerned about how property tax changes could appear to residents. School districts will be allowed a $325 per pupil revenue limit increase each year due to a partial veto by Evers in the last budget, but there is no state funding behind it in the 2025-27 budget.
“The state is not going to pay their portion of that. It’s going to be a straight tax increase,” Hamdan said. The last state budget that established the $325 increase paid for it in part through a general aid increase.
The total state general aid to Wisconsin schools is $5.58 billion, the same as 2024. The distribution of the funds is determined by a formula that considers property valuation, student enrollment and shared costs.
The Department of Public Instruction’s July 1 estimate shows that 135 districts — or 32.1% — will get an increase, while 277 districts — or 65.8% — will lose general aid.
In comparison, in 2024 when a general aid increase was budgeted, 68.6% districts were estimated to receive more general aids, while 29.5% of districts were estimated to receive less.
Hamdan compared it to having one pizza at dinner for a family.
“The state budget determines the size of the pizza that all 421 districts are going to eat from that year. Is it a 16-inch pizza? Is it an 18-inch pizza?” Hamdan said. “Depending on how hungry each of our school districts are, some of us are going to eat a bigger portion than the others, but there’s only so much pizza available. When some of the other school districts are passing referendums to increase their spending, they’re changing their position in that formula so their hunger is getting higher. They’re allowed to eat more, and that leaves less for some of the other school districts.”
With its increasing property values, decreasing student enrollment and the failed referendum, KUSD is estimated to lose 4.55% — or about $7 million — in general aid funding for 2025-26.
The decrease doesn’t mean the district loses its ability to bring in revenue, but means the district will have to make it up via property taxes — a worry for school leaders. The school board will be responsible for approving any levy increases meant to fill the loss of state general aid and the $325 per pupil school revenue increase.
“When we lose equalization aid, that does not mean that we get $7 million less budget authority, that means that the state will pay $7 million less towards our revenue limit number,” Hamdan said. “The board then will increase tax levies to make that up and that’s what the kicker is, we end up with a tax increase bump without getting more spending authority.”
Wiess said they are worried about whether community members will understand any property tax raises and the situation schools are in.
“My concern is that the message is going to be: ‘Our taxes were raised and we voted no. What did you do?’” Weiss said. “When you have to dive into the intricacies of the state funding formula, it’s not a quick answer to explain it. It’s very concerning.”
On a state level, Weiss and Hamdan said part of the issue is that state leaders have yet to address the long-term problem that schools face.
“The whole point is that the state budget doesn’t keep up with our inflationary increases, and this state budget does not do that either,” Hamdan said. “It’s not that we don’t appreciate the movement and the increases, but the point is still being missed, that there’s a problem here, and it’s not being fixed.”
Weiss said the pathway for a long-term solution can be found in the 2019 bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission report, which included raising the special education reimbursement to 60% and adjusting per pupil funding based on inflation.
“I don’t know why it hasn’t been enacted, but that’s the type of action that’s needed at the state to fix this problem,” Weiss said. “It’s not a two-year budget cycle. It’s a long term plan. It’s not a band aid.”
In addition to concerns about state funding, Wisconsin school districts are facing uncertainties about federal funding as the Trump administration has pushed ahead with trying to close the U.S. Department of Education and is withholding already approved funding for programs that support English language learners, migrants, low-income children, adult learners and others.
Wisconsin gets about 8% of its funding for schools from the federal government, and over $72 million is being withheld from the state for these programs.
About $1.6 million of that is meant for Kenosha Unified School District.
“We have staff attached to those grants,” Hamdan said. Withholding the funds, he said, “causes us to front that money while we wait for this other stuff to be figured out until we can claim reimbursement on it. The uncertainty is at an all-time high in my 20-year career.”
Wisconsin has joined a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration.
The funds were already approved by Congress and signed into law on March 15 and are typically distributed to states by July 1. The Department of Education notified state education agencies across the country on June 30 they would be withholding the funds without any specific explanation. On July 18, the Trump administration confirmed it would release a portion of the $6.8 billion in withheld funds, worth about $1.3 billion, for after-school and summer programs.
Weiss said he thinks the district will eventually receive all the funds, but is still disappointed and worried about federal funding.
“I anticipate we’ll receive it,” Weiss said. “I don’t know when, but it does — moving forward, it makes me wonder what future budgets will look like, and well, what we will do for some of our students who have needs in those areas?”
Kenosha isn’t the only district concerned.
Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Joe Gotthard and Verona Area School District Superintendent Tremayne Clardy warned at a press conference on July 9 that school districts will continue to be stuck in a cycle of seeking funding through referendum.
“Although we have community support, public education, including our district, continues to feel the impact of decreased funding from the state and federal level,” Gothard said. “This defunding of public education has to stop.”
Weiss said that even with the federal and state challenges, the school district is going to continue doing “what’s right by our students” and working “to give them the best education we possibly can.”
Hamdan added that he hopes in general people understand that public education is at the core of communities.
“Whether it’s building up the next workforce or creating the citizenry in your own community, your property values and what’s going to attract your businesses, public education is at the core of every single community and it needs to be supported.”
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