Trump's education funding shuffle: a strategic shift toward separation

A recent post by Jamelle Bouie on Bluesky cuts to the heart of the Trump administration's latest education policy moves:

"What this sounds like to me is the administration is cutting money for efforts to support integration and sending some of the cash over to HCBUs, under the view that this is where black students ought to go."

This captures a new pattern for the Education Department. It's recent $500 million funding redistribution appears to abandon integration efforts in favor of a more segregated educational landscape.

The numbers tell a stark story

Two recent articles in the New York Times, taken together, tell this story. Links are summary follow.

The Trump administration has orchestrated a massive reshuffling of federal education dollars. The most significant cut? $350 million has been stripped from programs supporting minority students. these cuts include science and engineering, schools with significant Hispanic enrollment, and other federal grants at minority-serving institutions.

The administration wants to redirect this money, along with additional cuts from gifted and talented programs and magnet schools, to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The HCBUs will see their funding increase to $1.34 billion—a 48 percent increase.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended these moves by claiming the department was "redirecting financial support away from ineffective and discriminatory programs toward those which support student success."

But this framing obscures a deeper ideological shift. The notion that efforts to support minority students at predominantly white institutions ares inherently problematic, while positioning HBCUs as the appropriate educational destination for Black students.

Abandoning integration

The cuts reveal a systematic dismantling of programs designed to promote educational integration and opportunity. Moving the clock backward yet again.

Magnet schools, which have historically served as tools for combating school segregation, lost $15 million in funding. Gifted and talented programs—which the administration claims use "racial targeting" in recruitment—were also cut. These reductions signal a retreat from decades of federal policy aimed at ensuring educational access to all types of institutions by all.

The $350 million in eliminated grants supported seven programs that helped minority-serving institutions strengthen their academic offerings, particularly in science and engineering fields where students of color remain underrepresented.

These weren't quota systems, despite any propaganda from the administration. Instead, these investments targeted institutions that serve significant numbers of underrepresented students.They were designed to level the playing field.

Implications of the concurrent HBCU windfall

While HBCUs deserve robust federal support. They have been underfunded since their inception, and they serve students from low-income families. Lodriguez Murray from UNCF called the additional funding a "godsend," and it's true that these institutions need and deserve resources.

The method of financing this increase, however, raises serious concerns. Funding HBCUs by cutting support for minority students at other institutions creates a false choice that pits different educational approaches against each other.

As Marybeth Gasman from the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions noted:

"None of these institutions should be pitted against each other, which seems to be what the Trump administration is doing."

Minority-serving institutions already educate more than half of all students of color. A comprehensive approach would strengthen both HBCUs and those programs that support diversity at other institutions.

Ideology over education

The funding redistribution also advances Trump's broader political agenda. American history and civics education will receive $137 million—seven times the expected funding—to support what the administration calls "patriotic education." All to supercharge the whitewashing of American history we've noted here before, ad nauseam.

And the source of the windfall? The money comes from cutting $140 million from teacher training programs that officials claim promoted "divisive ideology." And by now, we all know that means actually teaching American history: slavery, genocide, and all.

Charter schools, another Trump priority, will see a 13 percent funding increase to $500 million, paid for by cutting programs including magnet schools, gifted and talented initiatives, and Ready to Learn, which funded PBS educational programming. PBS is a subject for another day though.

Exploiting congressional dysfunction

Congress's has failed to do their job—passing regular appropriations bills. Thus creating what critics call would be "slush funds" that allow the executive branch unusual flexibility in redirecting money.

And of course shady slush funds are their preferred instrument for everything. The administration is exploiting this congressional dysfunction to unilaterally reshape education priorities without legislative oversight.

These are one-time changes for this fiscal year, but they establish a troubling precedent and signal the administration's broader vision for education policy. That view is one that sees integration efforts as problematic while channeling minority students toward separate institutions.

Separate but unequal. I lose track of what decade they are aiming for? 1950s? 1890s?

What this means right now

Bouie's insight in his post (follow him for real) reveals the administration's implicit assumption. The administration would rather steer these students toward separate institutions instead of trying to make all educational institutions more inclusive and supportive of minority students.

This fundamental shift away from integration as a policy goal toward a more segregated educational model is deeply troubling..

The Trump administration's moves reflect a broader retreat from civil rights enforcement and integration efforts across government. By framing programs that support minority students at diverse institutions as "discriminatory" while boosting HBCUs, the administration creates a narrative that integration efforts are inherently flawed.

This funding shuffle isn't just about money—it's about competing visions of American education. One vision seeks to break down barriers and create opportunities for all students across all institutions.

The other appears content to direct students toward separate educational pathways based on race and ethnicity. The choice between these approaches will shape educational opportunity for generations to come.

Non in cautus futuri.