Leaders from across Yolo County met at the Yolo County Office of Education Conference Center on Saint Patrick’s Day to hear updates from superintendents, state senators, and congressional representatives about the state of local schools in the midst of a potential collapse in federally-funded education efforts.

Yolo County Superintendent of Schools Garth Lewis welcomed elected officials and leaders from across the region, stating the purpose of the forum was to not just voice concerns for the future but also to start connecting with other Yolo-based entities to fight back against what they believe would cripple the school system as we know it.

“What I believe allows us to, ‘punch above our weight class’ is what we have colloquially referred to as the Yolo Way, and that is this spirit of collaboration,” Lewis told attendees on Monday, March 17. “Coming together with a shared vision and coming together in a way that really prioritizes our impact.”

Elected officials from across the county have voiced concerns as President Donald Trump and his administration have indicated, and in some cases acted, to cut off funding to entities, initiatives and programs it believes to be unnecessary or a waste of resources. In fact, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors was presented an executive order tracker in their most recent meeting to keep up with what the federal government is working on and how it would impact operations at the county level.

U.S. Congressional Representative Mike Thompson (D-Yolo) told elected leaders at Monday’s meeting to not be mistaken, as these actions taken by the administration should be seen for what he believes they are: an attack on education.

“We’ve been there before, we’ve survived, and it’s going to require that we double down on our efforts, we recognize the importance and the significance of our unity to get through this very, very rough patch right now,” Thompson said. “It’s not only education that’s under attack right now. It is literally everything from the federal government that is being reordered, dismantled or thrown into absolute chaos.”

Trump’s war on the Department of Education

Trump has continually gone after the Department of Education, stating he wants to return education to the states, but he has not specified if federal education funding would be cut as a result. Trump also has called the Department of Education a “big con job,” stating the United States spends too much per student while U.S. schools are “ranked 40 out of 40” in educational outcomes compared with other countries.

However, data suggests contrary to what Trump and allies maintain.The “40 countries” come from the 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries that participate in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The most recent results from 2022 reveal in no PISA category, however, does the U.S. rank last. Rather, the U.S. scored above average among OECD countries in reading and science (subjects in which the U.S. ranked six and 12, respectively). The average U.S. score in math was lower — but not significantly — than the OECD at 28.

The total spending per pupil for elementary and middle school students in the U.S., which is just over $15,000 per student, was 28% higher than the OECD average of $11,902. However, the U.S. ranked 6th behind Luxembourg ($25,584), Norway ($18,037), Iceland ($16,786), Denmark ($15,598) and Austria ($15,415).

For high school, the U.S. per pupil cost of $16,301 was 22% higher than the OECD average but below Norway ($19,831), Austria ($19,049), South Korea ($19,299), the Netherlands ($17,909), Belgium ($17,525), Germany ($17,077) and Australia ($16,498).

However, despite the data, Trump and his administration has elected to move forward with the dismantling of the federal education department.

“We want to cut the people that aren’t working who are not doing a good job,” Trump said. “We’re keeping the best people.”

In the last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that as a part of its “final mission,” it would seek to place around 50% of its workforce on administrative leave starting Friday, March 21. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated in a release the reduction in staff would be “a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”

As it stands, 259 employees accepted the Deferred Resignation Program, and 313 employees accepted the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment to leave the department before being forced to be placed on leave.

The Yolo Way — collaboration and fighting back

The Monday morning forum on March 17 was meant to serve as a way for federal and state representatives to share their goals with local educators and education administration for navigating the impact of potentially gutting federally-funded education.

Thompson said in Washington, D.C., he is working with his fellow representatives to try to mitigate the harmful impact cuts at the Department of Education could have, though he suggests approaching it multi-faceted.

One aspect Thompson is looking at closely is Social Security, which is also facing potential cuts from the Trump administration. He said that 33,000 people in Yolo County receive a check from Social Security every month, some of whom are former educators, veterans, former healthcare workers, and more.

“As a matter of fact, $60 million a month comes into Yolo County in social security checks, and I would be willing to bet most people in Yolo County who receive part of that $60 million every month don’t deposit that in a special account in the Cayman Islands,” Thompson quipped. “Those are monies that are spent right here. They make our schools stronger. They make our communities stronger. They ripple — it ripples across the entire community, so this is something that we need to protect for our teachers.”

Yolo County’s State Senator Christopher Calbadon also spoke at the Monday forum, acknowledging he has heard from constituents even more in recent weeks as cuts continue to be announced.

“We’re trying to protect our students while also expose them to the world as it is, and to be ready and to be literate in grappling with some of the challenge that we’re facing,” he explained. “To manage that and then go home knowing or go to the faculty lounge knowing what else is happening is a particular challenge.”

The chaos created by the politicization of the Department of Education, Cabaldon argued, has resulted in some people questioning the validity of an institution previously thought to be universally accepted.

“What we’re experiencing now is really a concerted effort to erode our sense of a moral center in many ways, similar to our sense of truth or facts, which has been substantially eroded over these last several years,” he explained. “This is not just by accident. It’s not just a set of tough choices. It is an effort to have us or to question our own sense of do I even know what’s right and wrong or is just everything wrong and maybe more wrong or equally wrong, and then to get us to turn on one another, to erode our social capacity for navigating what is right and wrong.”

Calbadon provided examples of bills he and other state elected officials are working on to address education concerns in the coming legislative session. One of the bills is directly inspired by a Yolo-based initiative, the West Sacramento Home Run Program.

Similar to the Home Run Program, SB 640 builds on the CSU’s direct admission pilot program in Riverside County. Students who meet the eligibility requirements will receive a congratulatory letter of acceptance to the specified CSU campus, with no application needed. The student can then choose to accept the admission offer and move directly to enroll at CSU.

In addition to expanding direct admission, SB 640 enhances California’s transfer pathways by requiring the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, in collaboration with the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges and CSU, to develop at least five Associate Degrees for Transfer in high-opportunity career fields.

“This session is more inspired by Yolo [County] and our way of approaching not just education for community, collaboration and strength together,” Cabaldon said.

Cabaldon told folks on Monday in order to ensure educators and students aren’t harmed by the chaos happening in the federal government, community organizations, and agencies should work together to persevere and do their best to continue the work they’re meant to do.

“We’re going to be banded, working together, both to uplift our communities and fight for them and show California and our communities how we can do things better with work that will serve our students,” he said.