Analysis on upcoming TSD Conference education, National Association for Pupil Transportation election results, the Federal Brake for Kids Act and the Federal Communications Commission revoking E-Rate eligibility of school bus Wi-Fi.
Jeff Cassell, president of the School Bus Safety Company, discusses the need for safety leadership training, removing risk and reducing accidents in student transportation.
Glenna Wright-Gallo, vice president of policy at neurotechnology software company Everway, has worked at the state government level and served as the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services. At the TSD Conference this November, she brings her perspective as a person with a disability on educating and empowering individuals with disabilities.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, speaks at a press conference Sept. 17, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Delia Ramirez of Illinois joined advocates Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol to blast proposed cuts to education spending.
The lawmakers and demonstrators rebuked a congressional spending panel’s bill that calls for $12 billion in spending cuts at the Education Department for the coming fiscal year and fulfills many of President Donald Trump’s education spending priorities as he and his administration seek to dismantle the agency.
Dozens of advocates from across the country marched from the Education Department’s headquarters to the U.S. Capitol to protest the proposed cuts, organized by the political arm of Popular Democracy, a network of community-based organizations across the country. The march culminated in a press conference, where Tlaib and Ramirez rallied with the advocates.
Trump outlines ‘winding down’ of agency
Trump and his administration have sought to take an ax to the Education Department in an effort to dramatically overhaul the federal role in education.
Earlier this year, Trump requested $12 billion in spending cuts at the department for fiscal 2026. A summary of the department’s request said the cut “reflects an agency that is responsibly winding down.”
“You all know, and I feel this from my heart — the fact that the current president wants to gut and completely eliminate the Department of Education is not only despicable, it is unconstitutional,” Tlaib said.
“You know the Department of Education is incredibly important for not only those living with disabilities, but different religious backgrounds, diverse communities,” she said.
The Michigan Democrat added that “without the Department of Education, we know many of our kids will be left behind, unable to receive … the education and resources.”
House and Senate bills differ
Though the House and Senate Appropriations committees share jurisdiction over funding the Education Department for the coming fiscal year, their bills stand in sharp contrast to each other.
Senate appropriators largely rejected Trump’s proposed spending cuts in their bipartisan bill, which advanced out of the committee in July. Their measure tightens requirements for the department to have the necessary staffing levels to fulfill its statutory responsibilities and prevents the agency from transferring certain programs to other federal agencies.
But the House Appropriations Committee’s bill, which also passed out of that panel, largely aligns with the president’s education agenda and spending cut priorities.
Ramirez of Illinois blasted that bill, saying it “would gut support for English language learners, funding for teacher training and retention and dismantle entire community schools.”
She noted that “in an effort to turn the clock back to when discrimination was legal, Republicans are obsessed with dismantling the Department of Education and every program that protects equal opportunity education for our children — that’s why Republicans are pushing to take away over $12 billion from our children’s public education.”
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Alverno College, Herzing University, Gateway Technical College and Mount Mary University could lose millions of dollars in aid after the U.S. Department of Education announced plans to end grant programs it deemed unconstitutional.
The grant programs offer federal aid to colleges and universities where designated shares of students are Black, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Asian American or Pacific Islander.
The Wisconsin colleges that would see the greatest impact are Hispanic-serving institutions, which means at least 25% of their students are Hispanic, among other requirements.
Experts say the grant programs were meant to level the playing field, and colleges often created supports with the federal funding that affect students of all demographics.
In addition, several Wisconsin colleges that could soon become Hispanic-serving institutions told Wisconsin Watch they plan to continue to pursue the designation.
Wisconsin colleges and universities with significant Hispanic and Latino populations could lose millions after the U.S. Department of Education announced that it plans to end several long-standing grant programs it says violate the Constitution.
In Wisconsin, the change would affect Alverno College, Herzing University, Gateway Technical College and Mount Mary University.
The seven grant programs in question award money to minority-serving schools for things like tutoring, research opportunities, counseling or campus facilities.
The funds are available only to schools where a designated share of students are Black, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Asian American or Pacific Islander, though the money can be used for initiatives that serve students of all demographics at those schools.
“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Department looks forward to working with Congress to reenvision these programs to support institutions that serve underprepared or under-resourced students without relying on race quotas.”
The $350 million previously allocated for grants for the 2025-26 school year will be “reprogrammed” to programs that “advance Administration priorities,” the department said.
The department will also discontinue existing grants, meaning schools that were previously awarded multi-year funding will not receive any remaining payments.
The largest share of the affected schools are Hispanic-serving institutions, including four in Wisconsin. More than 600 colleges hold that designation, which the Department of Education has awarded for about 30 years to colleges that meet several qualifications including having an undergraduate student body that’s at least 25% Hispanic.
The announcement does not affect funding for tribal colleges or historically Black colleges. The Department of Education announced $495 million in additional one-time funding for historically Black colleges and for tribal colleges.
It’s unclear how much funding Wisconsin’s schools stand to lose in total. The newest on the list, Gateway Technical College, applied for funding for the first time in July, seeking $2.8 million over five years, spokesperson Lee Colony said. The school was still waiting for a decision when the department announced it was canceling the program.
Wisconsin’s other three Hispanic-serving institutions did not answer questions from Wisconsin Watch.
The list also includes both of Wisconsin’s women-only schools, Mount Mary University and Alverno College, the latter of which has recently faced money troubles. Its board of directors declared a financial emergency in 2024. After cutting 14 majors, six graduate programs and dozens of staff and faculty, the school and its accreditor say it’s now in a stronger financial position, but the school did not respond to further questions.
The cuts could be especially consequential in Wisconsin because the state’s minority-serving institutions are smaller schools with smaller budgets, said Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
“If they lose funding, it will hurt students — especially low-income and first-generation college students,” Gasman said.
But the announcement doesn’t necessarily seal the fate of these grant programs. Gasman anticipates lawsuits over the funds that were already awarded to institutions, on the grounds that the administration can’t rescind funds that Congress has allotted.
“My hope is that Congress will step in and support these important institutions,” Gasman said.
Meanwhile, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities released a statement calling the decision “an attack on equity in higher education” that “erases decades of progress and hurts millions of students.”
The organization said it would “continue to fight alongside students and institutions to defend these essential programs and ensure that opportunity, equity and investment in higher education are not rolled back.”
The case for HSIs
More than two-thirds of all Latino undergrads attend a Hispanic-serving institution, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Proponents of the grant program say it helps a group of students who haven’t always been well supported in U.S. schools and colleges, and that, in turn, helps the economy.
“There are communities that have been excluded from educational opportunity, and they deserve the right to a high-quality education. That’s what democracy looks like,” said Anthony Hernandez, an education policy researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies Hispanic-serving institutions.
“By concentrating these federal resources, we can help them gain momentum to get into white-collar pathways and imagine that they could become nurses, they can become doctors, captains of industry, they can become scientists,” he said.
Hernandez disputes the Department of Education’s claim that it’s discriminatory to set aside funds specifically for minority-serving institutions.
“For most of U.S. history, minority students were either explicitly excluded from higher education or funneled into segregated, underfunded schools,” Hernandez said.
Minority-serving institutions were created to level the playing field, which remains slanted by bias, economic inequality and disparities in funding across K-12 schools, he said.
“This policy change presents itself as a defense of fairness, but effectively punishes institutions that were created to repair unfairness,” Hernandez said. “It withdraws critical support from communities still facing barriers and undermines the very schools helping to expand opportunity and strengthen the economy.”
He argues the program should be grown, not dismantled. The number of Hispanic-serving institutions has soared, he said, and the available funds haven’t kept up.
“They’ve constantly had to fight for funding,” Hernandez said. “They’ve never been adequately funded.”
If the Department of Education succeeds at cutting these grant programs, he anticipates that graduation and transfer rates at these schools will drop.
The cuts so far don’t affect grants issued to minority-serving institutions by other departments, including the Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation. But Hernandez worries more cuts could be coming.
“We imagine that that is eventually going to encompass all of the different arteries of the federal government that dole out monies to the minority-serving institutions,” Hernandez said. “I don’t think it’s finished.”
Gasman agrees. “I think the Trump administration is challenging the entire MSI framework, which has had bipartisan support in Congress,” Gasman said.
Wisconsin colleges serve growing Hispanic population
Watching from the sidelines are eight other Wisconsin colleges that have spent years trying to become Hispanic-serving institutions. At those schools, designated by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities as “Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” at least 15% of full-time undergrad students are Hispanic.
In the 2023-24 school year, there were 425 such schools in the U.S. In Wisconsin, the group includes a mix of private colleges, public universities and technical colleges.
They say they’ll keep up working to better serve Hispanic students even if the federal funds disappear.
Jeffrey Morin, president of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. (Courtesy of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design)
The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design joined the Emerging list in 2021, and its Hispanic enrollment has risen each year since, President Jeffrey Morin said.
About 19% of the incoming freshman class is Hispanic, and the city of Milwaukee is 20% Hispanic.
“For us, it is a natural reflection of the community that we serve,” Morin said, though he notes that the school selects students based on their academic record and a portfolio of their work, not their demographics.
“We are not sculpting a freshman class. We are serving the people who want to join our community,” Morin said. “And when a … noticeable portion of our population comes from a particular background, we want to make sure that we meet the needs of that population.”
Being designated as an Emerging Hispanic-serving institution hasn’t brought new funds to the school, but it “puts us in a community with other regional higher ed institutions so that … we can discuss and discover best practices and trends,” Morin said.
The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design is an Emerging Hispanic-serving institution. (Courtesy of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design)
Hispanic students are the fastest-growing group in higher education. As their numbers boom, more Emerging schools could meet the 25% benchmark and become full-fledged Hispanic-serving institutions.
That’s the plan at the institute, Morin said, adding that the funds would help non-Hispanic students too. For example, he said, many Hispanic students are also the first in their families to go to college. The grant funds could be used for programs that would support first-generation students, regardless of their race or ethnicity.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” Morin said. “The funding support that would come in to help one population will help other populations as well.”
‘Emerging’ schools not deterred
Despite recent news, MIAD officials say the school isn’t changing its plans. Supporting Hispanic students is particularly important now, Morin said, as the national rhetoric around immigrants grows increasingly hostile.
“What changes is that we’ll lose particular opportunities to partner (with the federal government) in service to the Hispanic community,” Morin said. “What doesn’t change is our commitment to serving the Hispanic community. We will simply look for new partners in that work.”
A student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design uses virtual reality goggles in a studio on the college’s campus. (Courtesy of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design)
Several other Emerging institutions expressed similar sentiments.
The mission of the federal program “aligns with our Catholic, Jesuit mission to keep a Marquette education accessible to all,” said Marquette University spokesperson Kevin Conway. The university announced in 2016 that it intended to become a Hispanic-serving institution. Since then, the Hispanic share of its student body has grown from 10% to about 16% in fall 2024.
“Like all colleges and universities, Marquette is monitoring changes in the higher education landscape and the resources available to help the students we serve,” Conway said. “One thing that will not change is Marquette’s commitment to its mission and supporting our community.”
A spokesperson for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where about 15% of students are Hispanic, said the school “remains steadfast in its access mission, ensuring higher education is attainable for all, regardless of background or income.”
Milwaukee Area Technical College, meanwhile, announced last year that it was “on the verge” of achieving full HSI status with 23.4% of its full-time students identifying as Hispanic.
“We’re very, very close,” MATC President Anthony Cruz said at the time.
Asked about the latest developments, spokesperson Darryll Fortune said the school “will continue to pursue HSI status regardless.”
This story was updated to include an announcement made by the Department of Education that the agency will award historically Black colleges and tribal colleges $495 million in one-time funding.
Glenna Wright-Gallo’s upcoming keynote at the Transporting Students with Disabilities and Special Needs (TSD) Conference will feature her expertise in inclusive disability policies and background in work with special needs students to guide student transporters through the world of federal and state requirements.
Wright-Gallo’s will present her keynote, “Staying Mission-Focused: Leading Through Policy Shifts with Clarity and Confidence,” Sunday, Nov. 9 in Frisco, Texas. She recently served as the assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), from May 2023 until February of this year. Her work there and most recently as vice president of policy at Everway, an educational software company, gives her unique insights into navigating accessible training programs, technology and updated policies regarding transportation services.
During her keynote, she looks to provide TSD Conference attendees with strategies to keep pace with implementing updated policies and ensure reliable and safe transportation services for students with disabilities, and infants and toddlers.
In addition to her keynote, Wright-Gallo is presenting a breakout session the afternoon of Nov. 9 on the importance and role of Dear Colleague Letters issued by the U.S. Department of Education.
Glenna Wright-Gallo is sworn in as the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in May 2023. (Photo courtesy of Utah State University)
Wright-Gallo received her bachelor’s degree master’s degree in special education and teaching as well as a master’s in business administration. She became a special education teacher in 1997 and then served as the state director of special education at the Utah State Department of Education from 2010-2017. She then became an assistant superintendent at the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for five years before President Joe Biden nominated her her U.S. Department of Education post in 2023.
Her work in Washington, D.C., included development of national policy, best practices for students with disabilities, recruitment of diverse personnel in special education and furthering state compliance to advance inclusive practices. At Everway, she is leading the Policy Center of Excellence and looks to amplify the voices of individuals with disabilities and people who are neurodivergent. She is also utilizing her experience in systems improvement to use neurotechnology software in the support of those with disabilities and further accessibility in education and workplaces.
Save $100 on main conference registration with the Early Bird Discount, available through Oct. 3. The TSD Conference will be held Nov. 6 through Nov. 11 at Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco Hotel and Convention Center. Visit tsdconference.com to register and view the conference agenda, which includes four keynotes and dozens of educational sessions all focused on transportation of students with special needs.
File photo of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which is among the nation's largest Hispanic-serving institutions. Hispanic-serving institutions and other colleges and universities serving students of color will lose funding under a recent U.S. Education Department decision. (Photo by Hugh Jackson/Nevada Current)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education announced it will withhold $350 million of congressionally approved funds to minority-serving colleges and universities and divert the funds elsewhere, saying that the institutions’ admissions quotas are discriminatory.
The move eliminated fiscal 2025 discretionary funding for institutions that serve students who are Asian, Black, Indigenous and Hispanic, as well as a program for students of color pursuing careers in science and engineering. It’s consistent with President Donald Trump’s longstanding objective to eliminate programs that center on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
McMahon cited a July opinion from the U.S. Justice Department that it was unconstitutional for federal funds to go to Hispanic-serving institutions based on the student body makeup.
That opinion reversed a decades-long record of the federal government setting aside funding for higher education institutions that have a significant portion of students from racial or ethnic minority backgrounds.
The schools affected by Wednesday’s announcement are Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions; Black institutions; Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions; Native American-serving nontribal institutions; and institutions receiving Minority Science and Engineering Improvement grants.
The announcement was vague about where the money would go instead, saying only it would be diverted “into programs that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas and that advance Administration priorities.”
Up to 800 schools affected
Democrats swiftly condemned the move, which is likely to face legal challenges.
Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the ranking member on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, said in a statement that the move undercut efforts to help students of color reach financial stability.
“These institutions are effective engines of economic mobility because they meet students where they are and are dedicated to educating the whole person,” Scott said in a statement.
Roughly 5 million students are enrolled in the more than 800 minority-serving institutions across the country. The schools aim to help students of color and students from low-income backgrounds pursue higher education.
Most of the minority-serving schools receive funding based on racial quotas, except for Black institutions and tribal colleges, whose designations are based on their historical missions to educate Black or Native American students.
The Department of Education will also reprogram funds from a program to develop Hispanic-serving institutions and from a program promoting postbaccalaureate opportunities for Hispanic Americans.
McMahon argued that because most minority-serving institutions require that a percentage of the student body reflect the racial background the institutions serve, it violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protections.
Administration cites equal protections
McMahon pointed to the Justice Department’s July memo saying it would not defend a suit brought by the state of Tennessee against Hispanic-serving institutions.
The Supreme Court has explained that ‘[o]utright racial balancing’ is ‘patently unconstitutional,’” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“And its precedents make clear that the government lacks any legitimate interest in differentiating among universities based on whether ‘a specified number of seats in each class’ are occupied by ‘individuals from the preferred ethnic groups,’” Sauer wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court case that Sauer cited in his letter to Johnson is the 2023 decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions that found two prominent universities’ consideration of race in acceptances violated the U.S. Constitution.
David Mendez, the head of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group, said in a statement that the loss in funding is “an attack on equity in higher education.”
“Cutting this funding strips away critical investments in under-resourced and first-generation students and will destabilize colleges in 29 states,” Mendez said. “The funds granted to HSIs have never supported only Latino students. These funds strengthen entire campuses, creating opportunities and resources that benefit all students, especially those pursuing (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, as well as enhancing the communities where these colleges and universities are located.”
A program at Marquette University that trains Milwaukee-area teachers to incorporate the city’s untold stories – particularly those of communities of color – into their classrooms is losing federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter that stated it will not continue the grant, saying the program – called MKE Roots – reflects “the prior administration’s priorities and policy preferences and conflict with those of the current administration.”
The decision means funding will end this fall, leading to staff cuts and scaling back of programming.
It’s a loss for the teachers who participate – but one that will affect thousands of Milwaukee students, said Melissa Gibson, faculty director of MKE Roots.
“Students realize that their communities have this whole rich history of organizing and advocating, making our city not only what it is but also a better place,” Gibson said. “They feel more empowered to be their own community and civic leaders.”
‘A rich tapestry of cultural experiences’
MKE Roots is a professional development program for Milwaukee-area teachers that includes a weeklong summer training in which they visit local landmarks and meet with historians and community leaders.
Places this summer included America’s Black Holocaust Museum and Sherman Phoenix Marketplace.
Before the school year begins, teachers get help developing lesson plans that reflect what they’ve learned, then they meet at least four more times to collaborate.
There is also an online map with lesson plans and primary sources tied to Milwaukee neighborhoods.
“We are heralding the men and women – the legacies of our city’s past – so that our students understand that they are part of a rich tapestry of cultural experiences,” said Robert Smith, director of Marquette’s Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach, which houses MKE Roots.
Milwaukee schools often teach local history through a curriculum that focuses largely on traditional narratives – such as beer barons and European immigrants, Gibson said.
“Students don’t know that Black Milwaukeeans have been here since the 1800s” before Wisconsin was a state, she said. “They don’t know how and why Mexican migrants came to Milwaukee in the 1920s. They don’t know that Wisconsin was one of the first states to pass anti-LGBTQ discrimination laws.”
“No matter where you are as a teacher, you do something like this, and it gives you perspectives that I think truly, as a teacher – especially today – you need,” said Jeffrey Gervais, a fifth-grade teacher at Hamlin Garland School who is participating in this year’s training.
The letter
In 2023, the Department of Education awarded MKE Roots a three-year grant for $1.27 million. However, on June 18, the department sent a letter to Gibson that stated it will not fund the program for the third year.
The letter gave four possible reasons for the decision: The program violates the letter or purpose of federal civil rights law; conflicts with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness and excellence in education; undermines the well-being of the students the program is intended to help; or constitutes an inappropriate use of federal funds.
It did not specify which reason – or reasons – apply in this case.
The Department of Education did not respond to questions about its decision, but Smith said he can only assume it is because of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, often known as DEI.
It calls for eliminating federal funding that supports “gender ideology” or “discriminatory equity ideology” in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs or activities, as well as teacher education, certification, licensing, employment or training.
DEI or not DEI?
Smith rejects the idea that MKE Roots is a DEI program.
“The notion of DEI is fundamentally based on people having equal access to institutions,” he said. “What we are doing is actually attending to the various populations of students we serve.”
Smith also disputes the reasons listed in the letter from the Department of Education.
“None of the reasons are accurate relative to what we do with MKE Roots,” he said. “This is civics education at its purest – making sure our teachers have the tools to engage in important conversations with their students about Milwaukee, Wisconsin, their neighborhoods and communities, and their role in shaping those neighborhoods and communities.”
Smith and Gibson said they are appealing the decision.
Gibson said she is considering applying for a new Department of Education grant for civic education programs that develop “citizen competency and informed patriotism” especially among low-income students and underserved populations, according to the grant’s description.
It would require redesigning aspects of MKE Roots to put “founding documents in conversation with local context,” Gibson said.
“We would need to find a different funding stream to maintain what MKE Roots currently does,” she added.
Regardless of the outcome, she said, the work will continue.
“I was doing this work before I had funding, and I’ll do it after I have funding.”
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