Realities of Funding
in 2025
Interview with A.C., a third-grade teacher in the Detroit Public School Community District
"The thought of trying to write a comprehensive grant proposal and send that in just to get minimal amounts of money that I need kind of on the spot anyway ... it just ends up coming out of my own bank account, just because the pacing and grant money can often take a while."
Q: How have you paid for your classroom supplies this year?
AC: I paid for classroom supplies this year. Yes, I have probably spent close to 200 of my own dollars, maybe even more, finding classroom materials: things like classroom decorations, anywhere from instructional posters to learning resources for science experiments to online lesson plans, that kind of stuff. I have definitely spent quite a bit of money. I have done not a GoFundMe, but I did do an Amazon wish list, which I sent around to my close family and friends. But again, the majority of it has been from my own pocket.
Q: How do you feel about GoFundMe and other fundraising resources that rely on parental income? Do you know of any government-funded alternatives?
AC: GoFundMe and other fundraising resources, I think, are a great resource to find funds for education, materials, supplies, and all that, but it's a lot of work, which is hard, because we already are pretty swamped as educators with just a lot of work. So I honestly haven't sought them out, just because it feels like a little bit of a barrier. The thought of trying to write a comprehensive grant proposal and send that in just to get minimal amounts of money that I need kind of on the spot anyway while I'm already swamped with lesson plans just ends up coming out of my own bank account, just because the pacing and grant money can often take a while. I think it'd be more useful for larger projects. We're a project-based learning school, which means that we conduct in-depth research into smaller topics over the course of several months. I think for those PBL projects that are planned ahead of time, grant resources could probably be a lot more reasonable, although the school is much more involved in those projects, so we already have good funding support for that. So yes, that's my answer to that one, government-funded alternatives: I honestly just haven't really looked into them, so I don't know much about them.
"There's sort of an expectation for our core subjects in third grade that schools are expected to provide the necessary equipment and materials to make that happen. It doesn't always happen."
Q: Has the administration at your school raised money on behalf of your classroom? Have you heard of this happening for any of your colleagues?
AC: My school provides, I think, a $75 stipend to each classroom to buy classroom materials and supplies. They do raise money through fundraisers that they choose allocate to some projects. However, those are usually for field trip things, or, you know, family nights or things that get students in the community as opposed to fundraising opportunities within the school itself. $75 clearly does not cover costs for things that are kind of essential for a classroom.
So yes, I know that for my music education colleague, they do a good job of fundraising for her programs. I know that they fundraise to get all of the instruments serviced. This past year, they fundraised to send the kids to perform at Cedar Point. I think this music teacher can do this a little bit better because she's one of the most senior teachers in the building, so she is established, and they're willing to spend more money on her. But again, these are opportunities that are outside of school, for the most part, not as much inside of school, which is why the music teacher gets more of these resources, because she's constantly putting on performances that are occurring outside of school, in an outside community, and all that.
Q: Can you elaborate on noticing increased funding for activities that get students into different communities outside of school as opposed to activities within school? What about the core subjects that you teach?
AC: When you're talking about, like, accessing monetary resources, I think also there's an expectation that resources should be fundamentally provided for core subjects. Whereas with music, well, of course, the school didn't provide money for instruments, because that's extracurricular. So, as you know, boosters, or from a grant funding perspective, we're gonna go after it, try to get those resources. Whereas there's sort of an expectation for our core subjects in third grade that schools are expected to provide the necessary equipment and materials to make that happen. It doesn't always happen.
Federal Funding
Executive orders issued by the current administration have altered several policies related to federal funding. Notably, Executive Order 11246, which required all government contracts to include antidiscrimination provisions and affirmative action requirements, has been rescinded.
"Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies," an executive order issued on February 6th, 2025 (while not strictly defining Nongovernmental Organizations), requires that activities and programs funded by NGOs align with "the goals and priorities" of the current administration.
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Taken with earlier executive order entitled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to Federal Government," this order implies that federal funds are not allowed to be used to support or reference gender ideology, unless in reference to two strict genders.
Executive order entitled "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy" mandates that all federal grants and contracts explicitly adhere to "anti-discrimination" laws as defined in a "colorblind society." This order affirms that federal grants and contracts do not operate DEI-related programs that violate the above laws. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is directed to review all policies, directives, and guidance created by recipients of federal grants in addition to eliminating all references to DEI, regardless of the exact terminology or acronym used, and shutting down all related mandates, requirements, programs, and activities.
