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By G. A. McNeeley
April 1, 2025 (Washington D.C.) — Some student loan borrowers are seeing their payment plans get suspended, which means their payments are rising. This has to do with changes at the Education Department implemented by President Donald Trump’s Administration.
Approximately 43 million Americans have some kind of student loan debt, according to Newsweek.
The Education Department reported that Americans collectively have $1.5 trillion in student debt nationwide.
Trump has made efforts to dismantle the Education Department, and said that student loan programs could be moved to different agencies if the department is eliminated. Nearly half of all Education Department workers are being laid off, as the agency undergoes major restructuring.
What’s Happening To Student Loan Programs?
The Trump Administration got rid of online and paper applications for income-driven repayment plans from the federal aid website, Newsweek reports..This change occurred as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked income-driven repayment plans in February. This means former President Joe Biden's “Saving on A Valuable Education” (SAVE) plan, and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) options aren’t available.
Now that these income-driven repayment plans are being suspended, borrowers can’t qualify for potential forgiveness or lower monthly payments based on their income or family size. Also, any payments that borrowers make no longer count towards the 120 qualifying payments they need to get to student loan forgiveness under the PSLF.
Many borrowers will also see monthly payments increase, because of these changes, according to Newsweek.
SAVE allowed 8 million borrowers to work toward student loan forgiveness, and allowed them to ignore their student loans for months. However, forbearance is scheduled to end this year, with the first payments arriving in December.
PSLF allowed public service employees to have their student loan balances cleared after 10 years of minimum payments.
"The PSLF Program has misdirected tax dollars into activist organizations that not only fail to serve the public interest, but actually harm our national security and American values, sometimes through criminal means," Trump's order says. "The PSLF Program also creates perverse incentives that can increase the cost of tuition, can load students in low-need majors with unsustainable debt, and may push students into organizations that hide under the umbrella of a non-profit designation and degrade our national interest, thus requiring additional Federal funding to correct the negative societal effects caused by these organizations' federally subsidized wrongdoing."
Based on Trump's executive orders and the federal court’s actions, it's unclear whether millions of borrowers will qualify for student loan forgiveness anymore. The future of SAVE and PSLF are both in jeopardy.
Education Department Staff Are Being Laid Off
Adding to the uncertainty are layoffs at the Education Department, which oversees the federal loan system, according to AP.
An hours-long outage on Wednesday, March 12, affected the federal website for student loans and financial aid (StudentAid.gov(link is external)), underscoring the risks in rapidly gutting the Education Department, according to ABC News.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), who handle colleges’ financial aid awards, received reports of users experiencing technical issues and having trouble completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The developers and IT support staff who worked on the FAFSA form were affected by the Education Department’s layoffs, along with the termination of probationary employees. The Education Department has reduced its staff by half, to about 2,000, since Trump took office.
A list of laid-off staff obtained and verified by AP News shows that over 300 people were cut from Federal Student Aid (two dozen of them worked in their technology division). The list included the entire team responsible for systems supporting the FAFSA form.
While laid-off staffers were technically employed until Friday, March 21, they had limited access to their email, phones and computers, making a response to the outage difficult, according to ABC News.
What Can Student Loan Borrowers Still Do?
All borrowers currently enrolled in income-driven repayment plans should “get a sense of when your recertification deadline is, and get a sense of what options are available to you if the form is not available online to recertify your income,” Aissa Canchola Bañez (policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center) told AP News.
Bañez told The Hill that borrowers need to download their payment history from the Federal Student Aid portal, screenshot tracking information if they’re on a plan that allows for forgiveness, and reach out to Congress members to help with their case.
“Members of Congress have entire teams that are dedicated to accessing casework on behalf of constituents that are having challenges with the federal agency, and these loans are directly from the Department of Education, and so borrowers should reach out for help from the members of Congress, regardless of their party, and demand that their members start working on their behalf, especially if they’re not able to get answers from the department,” Bañez told The Hill.
“Try saying something like, ‘I need your help to understand how to get into an affordable repayment option, which I’m entitled to under the law,’” Bañez told AP News. “‘Even though this federal department has taken down these applications, I need your help.’”
What Are The Experts Saying?
Kevin Thompson (a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group) told Newsweek, "The Biden-era SAVE repayment plan has been blocked, and as a result, some borrowers are now seeing their loan payments quadruple (no longer being based on income).”
"Borrowers should expect higher payments moving forward, which could lead to a surge in defaults and credit score hits. If the Trump Administration takes a harder stance on student loan relief, things may become even more challenging for those struggling to repay,” Thompson added.
Michael Ryan (a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com) told Newsweek, "Many payments now don't even cover accruing interest, creating negative amortization where loan balances grow despite regular payments. A particularly troubling aspect is that high-balance borrowers with moderate incomes could end up in perpetual debt if forgiveness timelines are eliminated as proposed in the College Cost Reduction Act."
Ryan added that borrowers should expect significant default increases in May, as millions of borrowers see payments going up by an average of $200 a month.
The SBA Will Now Handle Student Loans
Trump signed an executive order to move student loans to the Small Business Administration (SBA) on the same day that agency announced it was cutting 40 percent of its workforce, according to The Hill.
While advocates have been displeased with the student loan system for a long time, they worry more problems would be created than solved, by giving the biggest program the Education Department controls to an agency that’s seeing a sweeping reduction in force.
Moving student loans to the SBA, which “has no background of familiarity with the student loan program, with the rights afforded to student loan borrowers under the Higher Education Act (it will only make things worse for borrowers),” Bañez told The Hill.
Experts are advising borrowers to reach out to their loan officers and carefully document their repayment efforts, according to The Hill.
The president has offered no follow-up details on logistics for student loan borrowers, but the move was cheered by the Department of Education and the SBA.
“Whether it’s a loan for a business or a business degree, SBA is prepared to restore efficiency and accountability to our taxpayer-funded loan programs,” Kelly Loeffler (head of the SBA) said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). She also confirmed administration plan to cut about 2,700 positions out of its workforce of nearly 6,500.
Borrowers are in a precarious situation, with millions caught in limbo as The Trump Administration seeks to take away student loan forgiveness programs that were established and expanded by former President Biden.
Currently, advocates say they have little hope to offer the 45 million individuals with federal student loans, according to The Hill.
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New partnership awards $1M+ in inaugural grants to 18 nonprofits
Source: San Diego Foundation
March 26, 2025 (San Diego) - Dr. Seuss Foundation and San Diego Foundation (SDF) today announced the launch of Ready to Learn, a joint initiative to support early literacy development for young children in San Diego County. Unveiled at a press conference in the San Diego Central Library, the new program builds upon the organizations' successful three-year collaboration, which has provided more than $3 million in grants to expand access to early educational opportunities and improve reading skills for children in the region.
"Dr. Seuss Foundation is excited to deepen our partnership with San Diego Foundation to create lasting change in early literacy," said Jay Hill, Executive Director, Dr. Seuss Foundation. "Through Ready to Learn, we're honoring Theodor Geisel's legacy by ensuring that the joy of reading reaches children during their most formative years, setting them on a path toward lifelong learning and success."
Ready to Learn is established through a $15 million SDF endowment by the Dr. Seuss Foundation. An endowment is a permanent fund that is invested to generate revenue in perpetuity, providing long-term financial support for community needs. The endowment ensures Ready to Learn's sustainability and long-term impact on early childhood literacy in the region forever.
“A child’s brain is 90 percent developed by age 5, making early literacy essential for school readiness and lifelong success," said Mark Stuart, President and CEO of San Diego Foundation. "Strengthening our collaboration with the Dr. Seuss Foundation ensures every child in San Diego County has the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in reading during those crucial first five years."
The two foundations also announced $1,050,000 in grants to 18 local literacy nonprofits. Ready to Learn inaugural grantees include:
- American Association of Pediatrics – California Chapter 3: $75,000 to expand the Reach Out and Read program that incorporates books and literacy guidance as a standard of care in pediatric medical offices, fostering emotional bonding and healthy cognitive and social development.
- Basic Assistance to Students in the Community (BASIC): $25,000 to provide social, emotional and cognitive development support for transitional kindergarten (TK) students as preparation for kindergarten.
- Boys and Girls Club of Vista: $30,000 to foster a love for reading through hands-on activities and resources for early learners and their families.
- Chicano Federation: $50,000 to support children and families through resources for early learning success.
- Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership (DEEP): $75,000 to strengthen the capacity of caregivers to provide children with experiences that prepare them for early learning success.
- Episcopal Community Services: $75,000 to enhance early literacy for low-income children, fostering kindergarten readiness and family engagement.
- Father Joe's Villages: $75,000 to help families imagine a brighter future and make it a reality through family literacy programming.
- Library Foundation SD: $50,000 to ensure youth have the literacy skills they need to learn and thrive in kindergarten.
- Literacy Partners: $50,000 to empower and offer resources to Spanish-speaking parents and caregivers in San Diego to support children's early literacy and development.
- Monarch School Project: $75,000 to improve access to quality, data-driven and evidence-based early education for children, ages 0 – 5, and their families.
- Reading Legacies: $50,000 to promote literacy and strong, resilient families through facilitated read-aloud experiences.
- San Diego Rescue Mission: $75,000 to improve early education and literacy for homeless children by creating literacy-rich environments, addressing trauma and learning barriers, and equipping caregivers with tools to support development.
- SBCS: $75,000 to equip children exposed to trauma with the academic and emotional foundation needed for long-term success.
- Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) San Diego Inc.: $35,000 to boost early reading skills for K-3 students through transformative programs.
- Somali Family Service of San Diego: $50,000 to foster equity in educational readiness through culturally attuned strategies and supportive services for children from low-income refugee backgrounds.
- TrueCare: $75,000 to support the early development of children through guided support for parents on a journey toward a shared love of reading and stronger family bonds.
- Words Alive: $75,000 to lay a foundation for a lifelong love of reading by connecting reading and play for young children and their families.
- YMCA of San Diego County: $35,000 to support Expanded Learning Programs to better meet the needs of TK and kindergarten students through age-appropriate supplies, staff training and caregiver orientations.
The need for early literacy support is pressing. Recently, the Nation’s Report Card showed that in both reading and math, most fourth- and eighth-graders in 2024 still performed below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. According to the San Diego Council on Literacy, nearly half (46%) of third graders in the San Diego Unified School District do not meet state standards for language arts (reading/writing) and 20-25% of adults in San Diego County read prose at the lowest level of literacy (grade level equivalent of 0-4).
Ready to Learn is part of San Diego Foundation's broader Fifty & Forward Campaign celebrating its collective impact to benefit the San Diego region, with a goal of granting $500 million to nonprofits while fundraising $1 billion to shape San Diego’s future for the next 50 years. To learn more about Fifty & Forward, visit SDFoundation.org/50.
For more information about Ready to Learn and how to support this initiative please visit SDFoundation.org/ReadytoLearn.
About Dr. Seuss Foundation
Dr. Seuss Foundation believes in the critical importance of early childhood education. The Foundation creates partnerships and funds programs that inspire learning, spark imagination, and expand opportunities for all children. Because children’s brains are 90 percent developed by the age of five and research shows strong outcomes for students who read at grade level by the end of third grade, the Dr. Seuss Foundation takes a special interest in supporting programs that enhance literacy development from birth through third grade. Our community initiatives cultivate everything from social development to mathematical reasoning to environmental awareness, often strengthening multiple types of literacy at the same time. Learn more at drseussfoundation.org.
Contact: Jewell Karinen, marketing@drseussfoundation.org
About San Diego Foundation
San Diego Foundation believes in just, equitable and resilient communities where every San Diegan can prosper, thrive and feel like they belong. We partner with donors, nonprofits and regional leaders to co-create solutions that respond to community needs and strengthen San Diego. Since our founding in 1975, our community foundation has granted $1.8 billion to nonprofits to improve quality of life in San Diego County and beyond. Join us in commemorating 50 years of impact – and looking toward the next 50 – by learning more at SDFoundation.org.
The USDA has cut funding for two programs that allowed schools and food banks to purchase fresh food from local farms, also halting deliveries to food banks.
By G. A. McNeeley
March 21, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Trump administration has cut two programs that provided more than $1 billion to schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and ranchers.
About $660 million of those funds were contained in the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), which provided funds to schools and child care facilities.
The rest of those funds were part of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), which provided funds to local food banks and other organizations.
State officials were notified on Friday, March 7, of the USDA’s decision to end these programs this year. More than 40 states had signed agreements to participate in previous years, according to the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and several state agencies. The USDA also notified states that it was unfreezing funds for existing LFPA agreements, but did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for fiscal year 2025.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources confirmed it was notified on March 7, that the 2025 funding would be terminated within 60 days.
These cuts come as Donald Trump’s second presidential administration has cut federal spending and imposed tariffs, which forced food organizations and farmers to cut staff and halt investments.
What Do These Programs Do?
"This program will strengthen the food system for schools and childcare institutions by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors," the USDA website says on the LFS program's page. The LFS program helped build new income sources for local farmers and food producers.
The LFS program was also expanded to include child care centers, which was announced by the USDA in December 2024. "Families can feel good knowing their kids are eating food that was grown right in their own community," said then-Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Cindy Long.
The goal of the LFPA program is to "improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency," their website said.
LFPA agreements allow states, tribal and territorial governments to purchase food within their own communities (in the state itself, or within 400 miles of the food's destination). That food goes to food banks and organizations that feed people in "underserved communities," according to the USDA's website.
Both programs were introduced to respond to the impacts to the food supply chain brought on by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the USDA. By the end of 2024, food purchased through the program had been distributed at 7,900 food banks, food pantries, and communities in the U.S., the agency said.
In December 2024, the USDA announced a $1.13 billion investment for the programs. Of that funding, $471.5 million was slated for states and territories to "purchase local, unprocessed, or minimally processed domestic foods" to serve in schools participating in free or reduced-cost meal programs, and $188.6 million for child care centers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Food banks have also been seeing demands (due to rising food prices) and Republicans in Congress are pushing to make significant cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
What Are the Officials Saying?
“These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs,” said Shannon Gleave, the president of the SNA, in a press release. “Meanwhile, short-staffed school nutrition teams, striving to improve menus and expand scratch-cooking, would be saddled with time-consuming and costly paperwork created by new government inefficiencies.”
Maura Healey, Governor of Massachusetts, criticized the Trump Administration for cutting programs that would’ve provided $12 million in food-related funding for schools and food banks in her state.
In a press release, Healey said, “Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared that feeding children and supporting local farmers are no longer ‘priorities’, and it’s just the latest terrible cut with real impact on families across Massachusetts”.
“There is nothing ‘appropriate’ about it. Trump and Musk are continuing to withhold essential funding in violation of court orders, and our children, farmers and small businesses are bearing the brunt of it,” Healey added.
An unnamed USDA spokesperson told Politico that funding for the programs, “is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification”.
The spokesperson also said, “These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer affect the goals of the agency. LFPA and LFPA Plus agreements that were in place prior to LFPA 25, which still have substantial financial resources remaining, will continue to be in effect for the remainder of the period of performance.”
ECM spoke with the San Diego Food Bank, and asked them how these cuts would affect their budget, as well as their ability to provide food to their customers.
Cole Williamson (Vice President of Administration), told us in an email, “At the SDFB, we do not know precisely how changes to USAID or other Federal programs will impact us. We are working with State and Federal officials to figure that out. We will continue to monitor the developing situation and adjust as needed.”
USDA Halts Food Bank Deliveries
On Wednesday, March 19, Politico reported that the USDA halted millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food banks without explanation, according to food bank leaders in six states.
The USDA had previously allocated $500 million in deliveries to food banks for fiscal year 2025 through The Emergency Food Assistance Program. Now, the food bank leaders say many of those orders have been canceled.
For the Central California Food Bank, that means a loss of 500,000 pounds of expected food deliveries worth $850,000 just for April through July, according to co-CEO Natalie Caples.
Caples says that she has not received any assurances from USDA on whether the delivery cancellations are temporary.
The money that was clawed back came from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). It’s not clear how much of the $500 million for the emergency assistance program has been cut, but one USDA employee (granted anonymity to discuss private conversations), said the Trump administration has been trying to claw back CCC money that the Biden administration previously allocated in order to devote funds to other priorities.
USDA was supposed to spend $148 million of the $500 million this year to buy dairy products, eggs, blueberries and more. But last month, the department notified state agencies that it was canceling solicitations from suppliers, according to a February 20 email that Feeding America sent to its network of food banks (and was viewed by Politico).
“USDA has not yet announced plans to move forward with the canceled food orders,” the email states. “We believe the best approach is for network members to work through state agencies to obtain clarification from USDA.”
The emergency food assistance network gets its funding from a mix of money from the farm bill and through commodities USDA purchases. But the patchwork funding system has left the program unable to meet increasing hunger needs (especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent years of food inflation), anti-hunger advocates say.
The Biden administration responded to the demand on food banks by supplementing the emergency assistance funding with roughly $2 billion from the CCC fund in 2022 and 2023, then the additional $500 million in 2024.
Many of the organizations that rely on funding from the emergency assistance program were also receiving funding from the LFPA.
The clawbacks come as Congress is weighing shrinking the SNAP, which helps 40 million low-income Americans afford food. That could further exacerbate the pressure on food banks, which provide just one meal for every nine that SNAP supplies.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/usda-cuts-food-banks-schools
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/usda-cancels-local-food-purchasing-for-schools-food-banks-00222796
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/11/usda-food-bank-school-funding-cuts/82265217007/
https://schoolnutrition.org/sna-news/proposed-school-meal-cuts-prompt-nationwide-advocacy/
https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-denounces-president-trumps-decision-to-cut-12-million-in-federal-funding-to-feed-children-support-local-farmers-in-massachusetts
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/usda-halts-deliveries-food-banks-trump-00239453?cid=apn
"We won't be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires," said the head of the nation's largest labor union.
By Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams
March 20, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday afternoon directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of shutting down the Department of Education.
"Hopefully she will be our last secretary of education," Trump said of McMahon, promising to "find something else" for the billionaire businesswoman to do.
Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate campaign, responded to Trump's move by announcing a Friday "study-in" outside Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C.
As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order Thursday directing officials to shut down the Department of Education, Democratic politicians, teachers and communities across the nation are vowing legal and other challenges to the move.
Trump is set to check off a longtime Republican wish list item by signing a directive ordering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states."
Shutting down the department—which was created in 1979 to ensure equitable access to public education and employs more than 4,000 people—will require an act of Congress, both houses of which are controlled by Republicans.
Thursday's expected order follows the department's announcement earlier this month that it would fire half of its workforce. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and more than three dozen Democratic senators condemned the move and Trump's impending Department of Education shutdown as "a national disgrace."
Abolishing the Department of Education is one of the top goals of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led roadmap for a far-right takeover and gutting of the federal government closely linked to Trump, despite his unconvincing efforts to distance himself from the highly controversial plan.
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) called Trump's bid to abolish the Department of Education "more bullshit" and vowed to fight the president's "illegal behavior until the cows come home."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on social media: "Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires are trying to destroy the Department of Education so they can privatize more schools. The result: making it even harder to ensure that ALL students have access to a quality education. Another outrageous, illegal scam. We will fight this."
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, warned that "ending the U.S. Department of Education will decimate our education system and devastate families across the country."
"Support for students with special needs and those in rural and urban schools will be gone," he added. "We will stop at nothing to protect N.J. and fight this reckless action."
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA)—the nation's largest labor union—said in a statement Thursday that "Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America, by dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for billionaires."
Musk—the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—is the world's richest person. Trump and McMahon are also billionaires.
"If successful, Trump's continued actions will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections," Pringle warned.
"This morning, in hundreds of communities across the nation, thousands of families, educators, students, and community leaders joined together outside of neighborhood public schools to rally against taking away resources and support for our students," she continued. "And, we are just getting started. Every day we are growing our movement to protect our students and public schools."
"We won't be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires," Pringle added. "Together with parents and allies, we will continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize so that all students have well-resourced schools that allow every student to grow into their full brilliance."
National Parents Union president Keri Rodrigues said that closing the Department of Education would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable students and communities.
"Let's be clear: Before federal oversight, millions of children—particularly those with disabilities and those from our most vulnerable communities—were denied the opportunities they deserved," Rodrigues said in a statement. "The Department of Education was created to ensure that every child, regardless of background or ZIP code, has access to a public education that prepares them for their future. Eliminating it would roll back decades of progress, leaving countless children behind in an education system that has historically failed the most marginalized."
"The Department of Education has an enormous effect on the day-to-day lives of students across the country," the petition states. "They are tasked with protecting civil rights on campus and ensuring that every student—regardless of where they live; their family's income; or their race, sex, gender identity, or disability—has equal access to education."
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, responded to Trump's looming order in four words: "See you in court."
This article first appeared in Common Dreams and is featured in East County Magazine under a Creative Commons license.
By Jakob McWhinney, Voice of San Diego
File photos via ECM: GUHSD trustees Robert Shields and Jim Kelly, who were caught on hot mikes. These images did not appear in the original Voice of San Diego article.
March 15, 2025 (El Cajon) -- For weeks now, Grossmont Union’s board meetings have been dominated by crowds of community members furious at the district’s plan to close its budget deficit by laying off more than 60 employees. Those layoffs, which the board approved by a four to one vote two weeks ago, include assistant principals, teachers and nearly every single one of the district’s librarians.
The scene was the same at Tuesday’s board meeting, when hundreds of protesters packed into Grossmont High School’s gym to advocate the board rescind the layoffs.
Gary Woods, who voted in favor of the layoffs, said the decision made them “heartsick.” But another trustee was more frank about what he thought about the librarians on the chopping block during a hot mic moment just prior to the meeting’s official start according to a screen recording of the meeting shared with Voice of San Diego.
The person speaking was not on camera, but three district employees who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution identified the voice as that of Trustee Robert Shield. Shield was one of the board members who voted in favor of the layoffs. He did not respond to a request for comment.
“When it comes to the librarians, they don’t have as big a role … They’re overpaid compared to … teachers. They don’t do lesson plans, they don’t grade papers but they get a 10 percent bump in their pay because they don’t have a prep period,” Shield said in the recording.
But the librarians have been the primary rallying point for the protesters who’ve packed public meetings. Not only did students hold walk-outs at Grossmont Union campuses in solidarity with the impacted staff, nearly every single one of the dozens of the meeting’s public commenters argued the librarians were indispensable.
The librarians facing layoffs are credentialed teacher-librarians, meaning they offer in-class lessons, aid to teachers with curriculum and student and technology support that exceed what the responsibilities of the librarians of yesteryear.
“My child is a star example of how the support staff and the librarians make a difference. They went from struggling (with) mental health issues to an honor roll student,” one parent said during their public comment, holding back tears. “What creates revenue for these schools is students showing up for school. What is the point to them showing up to school when all their spaces, the staff they rely on are gone?”
In his hot mic comments, Shield also said that while the majority who’d voted in favor of the layoffs had “more than a few,” supporters in the audience, they were “silent because they don’t want to get beat up.”
And he wasn’t done. Shield continued, calling the protests political “opportunism,” and saying that while the crowds may be bad now, “they only have a half-life of only about two months.” They will eventually have “mission fatigue,” he said, and stop showing up.
“It’ll dissipate if we have the stomach to endure it and just shake it off. I promise you as long as it’s not mishandled in three months, they’ll be lucky to have a quarter of this amount … I’ve been through this before,” Shield said.
This is far from the first time board-related controversies have elicited community opposition. Last year, a former district administrator sued the district, claiming she’d been discriminated against because she was lesbian. Her suit included the claim that Trustee Jim Kelly referred to her and another lesbian district employee as “’witches’ who were part of an LGBTQ ‘coven.’”
The board’s conservative leanings have also stoked opposition. The year before that lawsuit, the board’s conservative majority voted to terminate multiple contracts with San Diego Youth Services to provide student mental health services. They cited concerns about the nonprofit’s care for LGBTQ+ youth, which includes counseling programs, despite those services being separate from what the nonprofit provided the district. When voting to end the services, Trustee Gary Woods said the nonprofit did not “reflect East County values.”
Shield wasn’t the only trustee who had a hot mic moment during the meeting. During a recess, Kelly was caught calling the protesters the “rudest crowd,” he’d ever seen and saying, “Some of them are trying to vomit on us in public and trying to bully us and, you know, just humiliate us.”
Protesters have argued they’re just trying to save the jobs of valued staff. They’ve also pointed out that the district has sizable reserves that would easily cover the balance. Even fellow board member Chris Fite – the lone “No,” vote on the cuts – has said they seem to far exceed what’s necessary.
“They’re saying these are structural deficits, but they won’t say what they’re caused by,” Fite said. “To me, it doesn’t add up. It does not explain the severity.”
Jakob McWhinney is Voice of San Diego's education reporter. He can be reached by email at jakob@vosd.org and followed on Twitter @jakobmcwhinney.
This story was first published by Voice of San Diego. Sign up for VOSD’s newsletters here.
