Since becoming a point of interest of a possible second Trump administration, the conservative Project 2025 has continued to disclose a harmful set of policies that threaten to upend and eliminate many social safety nets and demanding programs and push middle-class and low-income people on the point of financial disaster. 

The plan also threatens to tug America, and most significantly, Black Americans, back to the early to mid-Twentieth century, when Jim Crow and other oppressive laws kept proverbial knees on the necks of African Americans. The Center for American Progress (CAP) has conducted an in-depth evaluation, revealing much more reasons for concern regarding Project 2025.

The CAP’s recent findings highlight that Project 2025 goals to eliminate funding for low-income schools, jeopardizing over 180,000 teaching positions. Established in 1965, Title I provides crucial financial assistance to colleges serving high percentages of low-income families. Project 2025’s plan to abolish Title I funding entirely can be disastrous for the education system.

A comprehensive 50-state evaluation by CAP details the severe impact of cutting Title I funding on students and teachers nationwide. Key findings include that Title I supports nearly two-thirds of public schools and low-income students. Teacher turnover rates in high-poverty schools are 10% higher than in schools with lower poverty levels. Project 2025 would worsen existing teacher shortages by eliminating nearly 6% of the educator workforce, reminiscent of over 180,000 positions.

“Since its inception, Title I has been crucial in addressing funding and opportunity gaps between students experiencing high poverty and their more affluent peers,” stated Weadé James, senior director for K-12 Education Policy at CAP. “Project 2025 plans to gut it entirely.”

“Removing Title I funding would mean losing 1000’s of teachers and ultimately limiting children’s access to quality instruction,” added Will Ragland, vice chairman of research for Advocacy and Outreach at CAP. “This is able to be devastating to local schools, students, families, and communities.”

CAP officials asserted that Project 2025’s proposals undermine public education, a cornerstone of democracy. The plan suggests redirecting taxpayer dollars from K–12 public education to personal and spiritual schools for the rich, rolling back Title IX protections, eliminating Head Start, blocking student debt cancellation programs, increasing monthly payments for student loan borrowers, censoring anti-racist curricula, and cutting school nutrition programs, particularly for food-insecure children in the course of the summer.

Furthermore, Project 2025 plans to disinvest in programs supporting the educational needs of vulnerable students, including those with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and low-income students at Title I-eligible schools. Title I, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), provides supplemental federal funding to make sure all children receive a good, equitable, and high-quality education. Title I used to be created in response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, recognizing students’ more significant educational needs in high-poverty schools and the shortage of state resources to shut this divide.

Officials insisted Title I funding is critical for hiring and retaining well-prepared teachers. Throughout the 2023–24 school yr, every state reported a teacher shortage in a number of subject areas. High-poverty schools face higher turnover rates as a consequence of poor working conditions and unmanageable workloads, officials found. Title I provides resources to support and incentivize teachers in hard-to-staff schools, which serve a better percentage of low-income students and students of color. CAP officials reported that to shut the achievement gap, districts need more federal aid through Title I and other programs.

Officials determined that Project 2025 would decimate over 180,000 teacher positions, negatively affecting the educational outcomes of two.8 million vulnerable students nationwide. Such a loss represents 5.64% of the national teacher workforce. Some states, comparable to Louisiana, Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, and Florida, would face significant impacts, with as much as 12% of teaching positions eliminated.

Further, Project 2025’s proposal to phase out Title I reverses efforts to retain teachers, including laws to extend teacher pay. Today, the typical teacher salary in most states is below the minimum living wage, with teachers earning 5% lower than a decade ago when adjusted for inflation. Title I funding advantages teachers and students in suburban, rural, and concrete schools by providing direct student support services and enabling districts to rent and retain teachers. The CAP argued that eliminating Title I funding would result in high teacher-to-student ratios, an absence of school-based programs, and diminished quality instruction.

The authors used state data to calculate the equivalent of teacher jobs in danger as a consequence of funding cuts. They multiplied essentially the most recent state-by-state pupil-to-teacher ratios by the variety of teachers affected to find out the variety of impacted students.

Officials demanded, “Teaching is a foundational career that prepares employees for each industry. Adequate support for teachers and students is important for workforce preparation, social and emotional development, and fostering informed residents obligatory for a strong democracy.”