Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has pledged to fight back against a new round of threats to withhold federal funding from public schools.
The dollars the Trump Administration has threatened are called Title funding. The sections at risk pay for teacher training, English language learning, migrant student programs, technology, safety and other programs.
Kotek said Oregon schools, especially rural communities, could lose out on hundreds of millions as they plan for next school year.
"Those are tax dollars, going over to DC, that need to come back the way they've been coming back all those decades,” Kotek said. “It's unconscionable that they think they can play with Title dollars for our schools right now. They're sending a lot of fear through our school districts right now and it's got to stop."
According to state data, Bethel, Eugene 4J and Springfield received at least $2 million last school year in now-threatened title funding for educator training and other programs.
Oregon’s attorney general is considering possible legal action. Kotek said she’s also asked local school districts to assess and share information about how they may be impacted by withheld funds.
The withheld funds don’t appear to impact resources meant for schools with high percentages of low income students, or resources set aside for students with disabilities.
Kotek spoke at a virtual press conference Wednesday, alongside several Democrats from Oregon’s congressional delegation.
Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Janelle Bynum and Val Hoyle all condemned the Trump’s administration's withholding of funds, saying it was illegal.
The 'One Big Beautiful Bill'
Wednesday’s call came ahead of a potential U.S. House vote on a new Republican-led budget proposal, which President Donald Trump has christened the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Oregon’s Congressional Democrats are united against the proposal, arguing the proposed cuts to SNAP benefits, Medicaid and green energy would hurt ordinary Oregonians.
But Hoyle, a Springfield Democrat, said she thinks even Republicans who are skeptics of the bill in the House will fold under pressure from Trump.
“I don't have hope that my colleagues in the Republican Party will find their backbone and remember the principles that they said that they would vote on,” said Hoyle.
Hoyle said Democratic lawmakers are working to delay the bill’s progress. If the House amends the text, it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote before the President could sign it.
"We can continue to make sure Republicans have to face the truth," said Hoyle. "And what I say is that Oregonians, people across this country, need to speak up and speak out before it's too late.”
