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A Michigan program that deploys reading and math tutors to schools to help struggling students faces an uncertain future because of Trump administration cuts.
Holly Windram, the executive director of the Michigan Education Corps, said she learned Friday that the federal Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, had terminated funding for AmeriCorps, a government agency focused on national service and volunteerism.
That affects the Michigan Education Corps work because it is part of AmeriCorps.
The immediate impact came this week with a stop-work order from the Michigan Community Service Commission, the administrative agent for the AmeriCorps program in Michigan. And it means funding for the 2025-26 school year that had been included in the continuing budget resolution Congress passed in March has also been terminated.
The cuts don’t just affect education programs like the academic intervention provided by the Michigan Education Corps. AmeriCorps programs also affect disaster response, public health, economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, and other areas. Those programs also face an uncertain future.
“This is an urgent situation,” Windram said of the wide scope of the cuts. “This is an absolute disaster for our communities.”
The cuts have the potential to upend efforts to improve student achievement across the nation. Many districts had used federal pandemic relief money to provide tutoring in an attempt to help students recover from the public health crisis. But that money has dried up and the AmeriCorps volunteers have helped maintain that work in many schools.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel earlier this week joined with 22 other attorneys general as well as two states in filing a lawsuit challenging Trump administration’s termination of the grants and staffing cuts to the agency.
“The President and his administration’s ongoing disregard for the rule of law is once again on full display in their attempt to dismantle AmeriCorps,” Nessel said in a statement earlier this week. “By canceling grants and slashing AmeriCorps’ workforce, the administration is illegally undercutting a Congressionally established and funded independent agency, while harming communities across Michigan.”
Despite the stop-work order, the Michigan Education Corps has enough money to continue paying tutors through the end of the current school year.
“The question mark is next program year,” Windram said.
This uncertainty was unexpected for Windram. When Chalkbeat first talked to her about potential federal funding cuts on April 17, DOGE had already cut a significant portion of the AmeriCorps staff but Windram was optimistic because the budget resolution had kept the funding for the next school year. Now she has to step up efforts to seek additional funding.
Windram has worked to diversify the program’s funding, and currently federal funding covers about 20% of the cost. She’ll now need to find sources of funding that can cover what will be lost if the federal funding cuts stand.
There is much at stake. The program serves 3,740 students from age 3 through grade 8 (the agency includes an early childhood component). Data shows that 75% of them meet or exceed their academic growth target. Windram said that’s important because the program isn’t just seeking to demonstrate growth with students, but instead seeking to have them close achievement gaps.
At Ralph J. Bunche Elementary School in Ecorse, a wall of fame in a hallway features students who were placed in the reading intervention program and have improved enough to no longer need the help. The smiling students are photographed holding their certificates, some posing with their tutors. The wall is a symbol of the impact of the work that happens when the tutors meet one-on-one with the struggling students.
When Chalkbeat visited Ralph J. Bunche Elementary School in Ecorse on April 4, there was already concern about whether the reading and math tutors would be able to continue beyond the current school year.
“That is very worrisome,” said Sandra Fuoco, the school’s Title I teacher, whose position is funded by federal money. “I have my interventionist wondering what’s going to happen? Do they look for a new job over the summer? They want to come back. They’re wonderful, wonderful workers, and we don’t want to lose them.”
The AmeriCorps cuts are happening as uncertainty swirls about potential federal education funding cuts that could affect everything from school meals for students to early childhood programs. Fuoco and Bunche Principal Toyre Burks worry that politicians and policymakers proposing such cuts don’t understand how much cuts could affect students.
“I have my concerns around us being able to meet our kids where they’re where they’re at,” Burks said. “We’re in an at-risk district. Our kids, they need the breakfast, lunch, sometimes even dinner and snacks that we’re giving them.”
Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.
