Category: Reflections

Retired now 10 years…2014 was my last year…Had concerns, never believing we would be here…

Chaotic start for 2025…

Trump administration shouldn’t get credit for giving back money they illegally withheld from our public school kids and teachers…Senator Elizabeth Warren

Mark Lieberman
Reporter, Education Week..

Trump Abruptly Unfreezes All of the Education Funds He Had Withheld

The Trump administration next week will unfreeze billions of K-12 education dollars it has withheld from states since July 1, the Education Department told states Friday afternoon.

Roughly $5 billion for K-12 schools will flow beginning the week of July 28 to states through four K-12 education grant programs, according to a July 25 Department of Education letter obtained by Education Week….

Another $715 million for two adult education grant programs will also flow to states next week, according to a separate Department of Education letter obtained by Education Week…

Funding will start flowing to states next week
The announcement to state education agencies marks an abrupt and dramatic reversal from the Trump administration’s unprecedented decision to withhold, with less than one day’s notice, all funds from seven longstanding grant programs Congress voted in March to fund for the upcoming school year.

That move late last month sparked a firestorm of controversy and chaos nationwide, including lawsuits from two dozen Democratic state officials and, earlier this week, a coalition of school districts, state-level teachers’ unions, and education advocates.

Democrats in Congress condemned the freeze as illegal and unconstitutional.

Roughly a dozen Republicans on Capitol Hill, including 10 senators who represent rural states, called last week for the administration to immediately release the money—the most direct rebuke from federal Republicans to President Donald Trump’s education policies so far during his second term.

The vast majority of Republican lawmakers stayed silent on the funding freeze, even though almost all of them voted to approve the affected funds.

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.8 million American Federation of Teachers, on Friday afternoon announced the release of the funds to a standing ovation of hundreds of teachers at the union’s professional development conference in Washington.

In an interview with Education Week, Weingarten said she’s optimistic many schools will be able to get planned programming for students back on track.

“School districts plan weeks and months in advance; they don’t plan two minutes in advance,” Weingarten said.

Funding freeze twists have upended school districts’ budget planning
The administration began unthawing its funding freeze last week when it sent states $1.4 billion in Title IV-B funds for before- and after-school programs. Some of those programs had already begun dismissing employees and suspending services.

The seven affected grant programs were under review in an effort to root out a “radical leftwing agenda,” the federal Office of Management and Budget said in early July, without detailing the timeline or criteria for the review.

Since then, states and districts have been racing to understand the implications of this decision for the upcoming school year.

Many have already rejiggered budgets, laid off workers, or tapped alternative sources of funds for programs they intend to maintain with or without federal support.

Some of those decisions may be difficult for schools to immediately reverse—especially because Congress hasn’t yet weighed in on Trump’s proposal to eliminate the affected grant programs after the current school year.

Some school districts reported earlier in July that the delay in the funding already affected their ability to purchase materials and hire supplemental staff.

“Celebrate today, but keep organizing and keep advocating and using your voice so we can make sure that our students get the services that they need,” said Montserrat Garibay, who oversaw Title III funding as director of the Education Department’s English-language acquisition office under President Joe Biden.

The Trump administration has thrown federal education funding into chaos since Jan. 20—yanking already-awarded grant funds; changing spending rules and guidelines without warning; asking Congress to consider massive cuts. Its next moves remain unclear.

Politico reported earlier this week that the White House was preparing to send Congress a proposal to rescind education funds lawmakers allocated earlier this year.

It’s not clear whether these now-unfrozen grant funds were among the ones the Trump administration wanted permission to formally claw back-—or whether the administration still plans to attempt to rescind those funds with lawmakers’ approval…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/07/25/school-funds-released-trump-omb/?s=09

https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1948855328705315239?t=jbm6UpBJRXzrHYJeIDZBQA&s=09

#FloridaTeacher🍎♥️                         #TeacherLove                              #ProtectOurKids

Our precious children…
Christmas in July ✨ 🌲 ✨
SummerPeaceandLove…

4th of July…
Congress sending Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ to his desk after dramatic all-night House vote…🙏🏽💔🇺🇲

There is nothing as rewarding as making someone realise that they are worthwhile in this World,
That their presence makes a difference…

#AmericaDream
#4thOfJuly
✨️🙏🏾❤️🇺🇲

July’sWish…
This 4th of July…
Time for our reflection…

Our Independence Day Commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776…

AMERICA WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED FROM THE OUTSIDE IF WE FALTER AND LOSE OUR FREEDOMS IT WILL BE BECAUSE WE DESTROYED OURSELVES

Abraham Lincoln

Former President Barack Obama warned about a “weak commitment” to democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration and the U.S. “drifting” into autocracy during a speech in Connecticut, according to media reports.bit.ly

https://x.com/USATODAY/status/1935368113341485346?t=nLSvT19gq08VmS94-_gC4w&s=09

The Trump administration has made dozens of cuts that some teachers say could impact their profession in a “huge way,” according to educators in terminated programs who spoke with ABC News.

Before Teacher Appreciation Day, which is celebrated on Tuesday as part of Teacher Appreciation Week, the administration has slashed professional development initiatives, preparation programs, and other federally funded education projects that the administration has deemed as divisive and run afoul of its priorities.

Cuts are affecting the experiences that ’empower teachers’…

Melissa Collins, who was Tennessee’s Teacher of the Year in 2023, said professional learning grants through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) made her a better teacher. Collins told ABC News the opportunity to attend programs at museums or colleges allowed her to enhance her skills. At the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) last summer, Collins participated in the Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop entitled “Little Tokyo: How History Shapes a Community Across Generations.”

“I have received the best professional learning experience that I could ever receive that is going to impact my classroom and so many others,” Collins said in a video by JANM.

However — like many federal education awards — the NEH grant was terminated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the programming is no longer offered due to the administration’s “shifting priorities,” according to a termination notice reviewed by ABC News.

“As teachers, we strive to improve for our students, but currently, budget cuts are affecting the experiences that empower teachers to serve their schools and communities effectively,” Collins wrote in a statement to ABC.

Former teacher Dani Pierce was educator liaison at the department of education before losing her job this spring under the agency’s reduction in force efforts as Trump hopes to abolish the department completely. Pierce stressed the work teachers do in the classroom each day is “immeasurable” and often goes unseen. But during Teacher Appreciation Week this year many in the education community, including Pierce, grapple with the prospect of a shuttered department.

“It pains me deeply not to be at the Department right now, leading our teacher appreciation efforts or ensuring teachers have a voice in the policies that affect your schools and students,” Pierce wrote in an open letter to the teachers of America.

“I may be RIFed from my role as your liaison to the Department, but I will never stop working to ensure your voices are heard and your contributions receive the recognition and support they deserve,” Pierce added.

Teachers across the country tell ABC News they continue to face major hurdles in the classroom — including staffing shortages, the pinch of low pay and addressing students’ mental health — many of which stem from closures during the COVID-19 pandemic…

The Trump administration has made dozens of cuts that some teachers say could impact their profession in a “huge way,” according to educators in terminated programs who spoke with ABC News.

MORE: Collections on defaulted student loans may affect millions of people’s credit scores
“I have received the best professional learning experience that I could ever receive that is going to impact my classroom and so many others,” Collins said in a video …

However — like many federal education awards — the NEH grant was terminated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the programming is no longer offered due to the administration’s “shifting priorities,” according to a termination notice reviewed by ABC News.

MORE: 2 federal judges block Trump’s effort to ban DEI from K-12 education
“It pains me deeply not to be at the Department right now, leading our teacher appreciation efforts or ensuring teachers have a voice in the policies that affect your schools and students,” Pierce wrote in an open letter to the teachers of America..

DEI initiatives “inconsistent” with fairness and excellence in education…

On the other hand, the next generation of teachers are also affected by the administration’s cuts.

One of Trump’s top pledges is to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs and any practices that discriminate on the basis of race. Some of the most recent actions taken by the education department include cutting grants that contribute directly to educator diversity.

The agency terminated the CREATE project, formerly at Georgia State University, because the program conflicted with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness and excellence in education, according to a termination letter obtained by ABC News.

The federal funding was deemed “inconsistent” with the department’s objectives because the program promoted DEI initiatives or unlawful discrimination practices. But former employees said the organization contributed hundreds of millions of dollars toward promoting novice teachers. They told ABC News the teacher residency program helped place the majority of its student teachers into underserved schools in the Atlanta Public School system and called the administration’s termination notice “dismissive.”

“It was very disrespectful to the work that we have put our blood, sweat and tears into — ensuring that this community that we are serving in has quality educators,” an educator said….

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/teacher-appreciation-day-trump-cuts-affecting-profession-huge/story?id=121482055

Memories… 2014                         #FloridaTeacher ❤️🍎        #TeacherLove…                                 #TeacherAppreciationWeek …  

#FloridaTeacher♥️🍎
Memories…

A child can teach an adult three things:

To be happy for no reason
To always be curious
To fight tirelessly for something…
❤️- Paulo Coelho
heartmath.org

#TEACHers
#TeacherAppreciationWeek
💜🪄💫✨🦋🌈🍎📚

Mother’s Day…
Teacher Appreciation…
The journey…
Our precious children…
#memories
#MothersDay
#TeacherAppreciationWeek
💜🪄💫✨🌞🌟💐🍎📚

By Tierney Sneed, Kristin Chapman and Shania Shelton, CNN

Our Classroom is a Rainbow…
Quote• Posted on December 18, 2013

Our Classroom is a Rainbow…

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It’s a framework that promotes fair treatment and full participation for all people, particularly those who have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against.

DEI initiatives aim to create workplaces and communities that are more inclusive, equitable, and representative of the diverse world around us. They often involve policies, training, and programs designed to address biases, promote understanding, and ensure that everyone has a voice and a chance to succeed…

President Donald Trump’s efforts to crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs suffered a major legal blow Thursday as three separate judges – two of them appointed by the president – ruled against a Department of Education policy that threatened to withhold federal funding for schools engaging in DEI or incorporating race in certain ways in many other aspects of student life.

The policy was first laid out in a so-called Dear Colleague letter sent to schools in February. Starting this month, schools receiving federal funding would be subject to certain certification mandates requiring that they turn over information regarding their compliance with the Trump administration’s prohibitions.

US District Judge Landya McCafferty said in a scathing opinion that the administration’s policy, was “textbook viewpoint discrimination,” likely violating the First Amendment’s free speech protections. She and another judge, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, also concluded that the policy was likely unconstitutionally vague.

She also concluded that the National Education Association, the administration’s opponent in the case, was likely to succeed in its arguments that the policy was unconstitutionally vague and that the agency ran afoul of procedural steps required by law in how it implemented the policy.

“The ban on DEI embodied in the 2025 Letter leaves teachers with a Hobson’s Choice,” McCafferty, a Barack Obama appointee who sits in New Hampshire, wrote, noting that the educators must choose between teaching curricula that invites penalty from the federal government or risking their professional credentials by aiding the Trump policy.

“The Constitution requires more,” she wrote.

Friedrich, a Trump appointee who announced her ruling after a hearing Thursday in Washington DC, said that the letter failed to “delineate between a lawful DEI practice and an unlawful one,” making the task of reviewing compliance too difficult.

The third ruling against the policy came from Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee who sits in Baltimore. She found that the Dear Colleague letter ran afoul of procedural requirements required by law for implementing new agency policy.

“This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair,” Gallagher said in her ruling. “But this Court is constitutionally required to closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. The government did not.”

The rulings come after the Trump administration reached a short-term agreement with the challengers in the New Hampshire case to pause enforcement of the policy while the judge considered whether to issue a preliminary injunction. That agreement was set to expire on Thursday.

Trump has waged war on DEI efforts since the start of his second term and has taken action against several elite universities, demanding changes to their DEI programs. The administration has already rolled back DEI programs, arrested international students and revoked their visas, and frozen federal funding for schools that have refused to submit to its demands.

The administration froze over $2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts at Harvard University after its leaders refused to make key policy changes, including eliminating DEI programs, resulting in a clash over academic freedom, federal funding and campus oversight as Harvard sued the federal government.

Policy changes were also demanded of Columbia University, though the school later announced several changes to address the Trump administration’s demands, an apparent concession to the federal government.

The NAACP, which filed the case in DC’s federal court, said Friedrich’s ruling “is a victory for Black and Brown students across the country, whose right to an equal education has been directly threatened by this Administration’s corrosive actions and misinterpretations of civil rights law.”

The group representing the teachers’ associations and public school district that sued over the policy in Baltimore also celebrated the ruling there.

“This ruling is a win for educators, students and communities across the nation,” Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said. “The nationwide injunction will pause at least part of the chaos the Trump administration is unleashing in classrooms and learning communities throughout the country.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty and Emily R. Condon contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/24/politics/education-dei-policy-blocked/index.html

#FloridaTeacher ♥️🍎            #ProtectOurKids 🙏🏼♥️🍎📚🇺🇲  

Trump’s pick for our precious Children’s  Secretary of Education is an absolute disgrace…  He is making a mockery of quality of their future’s success …

Linda McMahon as the Secretary of Education makes Betsy DeVos almost capable…

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon may have had a juicy steak in mind while speaking at a panel earlier this week because she confused artificial intelligence, also known as AI, with A1, the same name as the popular sauce brand.

McMahon, 76, made the mix-up on April 8 while speaking at the ASU+GSV Summit, an event focusing on educational innovation. The former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) initially referred to the acronym for artificial intelligence correctly, saying, “You know, AI development – I mean, how can we educate at the speed of light if we don’t have the best technology around to do that?”

Things got sticky as McMahon’s speech continued: “A school system that’s going to start making sure that first graders, or even pre-Ks, have A1 teaching in every year. That’s a wonderful thing!”

“Kids are sponges. They just absorb everything,” she added. “It wasn’t all that long ago that it was, ‘We’re going to have internet in our schools!’ Now let’s see A1 and how can that be helpful.”

‘Every school should have access to A.1.’
A.1. Sauce capitalized on McMahon’s blunder by posting an Instagram post on their verified account saying, “You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.”

Agree, best to start them early,” the picture attached to the post reads.

Other Instagram users loved the response from the Kraft Heinz-owned brand. One user even commented, “I will be buying a bottle or two because of this post.”

People online have even joined in on poking fun at McMahon, with one X user saying, “Education Secretary Linda McMahon keeps referring to AI as A1 and talking about how it will help ‘students at all levels.’ But how can we get those kids to drink it? Linda added, ‘The smarter kids can move up to Thousand Island Dressing'”

USA TODAY contacted Kraft Heinz and the U.S. Department of Education on Saturday but has not received a response…

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/12/linda-mcmahon-a1-instead-of-ai/83059797007/

Never did I believe…In my thirty-eight teaching career; which began April 1, 1972, retiring ten years ago  June 5, 2015…

This latest Presidental Election 2025,   Donald Trump would be reelected!!

Had we not been warned!!??   Definitely  manifesting a critically detrimental impact on our Precious Children’s future for  a Strong Public School Education…

Many of my worst fears are being realized…And this is just the beginning…

We now have a federal government that is  promoting; enacting divisive, authoritarian programs…

School choice being one; promoting the privatization of public schools…Taking monies away from public schools, thus giving it to private and charter schools…

We, here in Florida, already have realized book bans and restrictive curriculum. that provide such authoritarian control over our public schools…

We no longer have that Constitutional protection of the separation between Church and State…💔🤍💙🇺🇲

#FloridaTeacher ♥️🍎
May G-d Bless our Precious children’s right to a Strong Public Schools Education…

It takes that caring team Parents and Educators with the aid of a Strong Federal Government to provide that fundamental right

All of our precious children protected and included…
#childrensfuture
#SeparationChurchState
🙏🏻♥️🤍💙🇺🇲

#ForidaTeacher ♥️🍎
Let Love and Hope for Our Children’s Future…
Lead Us Forward…
That’s  I will continue advocating through social media…

Most of my life… Teacher Advocate …
My Hope when leaving this World…
May America be in a better Place…🙏🪄🫶🏼♥️🍎📚🇺🇲