Morning Report: Trump’s Latest Funding Freeze Impacts Local K-12 Schools

The Trump Administration last week announced a funding freeze of nearly $7 billion in federal grants that was meant for schools across the country. In San Diego, that means tens of millions of dollars that was slated for after-school programs, migrant education, English language learners and more is on the line.

It’s unclear just how far reaching the impacts of the grant freeze will be for local school districts in San Diego County, but district officials at San Diego Unified told our Jakob McWhinney that those impacts could linger for years to come, even if the freeze ends up being temporary.

Professional development, for example, is an area San Diego Unified officials expect the funding freeze to hit the hardest, namely training for educators teaching English to non-English speakers and a credentialing program for teachers to teach in areas like special education.

In other districts, like Mountain Empire Unified, such a funding freeze will likely result in less before-and after-school care for students in one of the region’s most rural school districts where parents have long commutes between their work and their children’s schools.

Meanwhile at the San Diego County Office of Education, officials are expecting the funding freeze to impact its migrant education programs, which aim to fill education gaps experienced by children of migrant farmworkers.

McWhinney writes that even if Trump’s grant freeze is eventually unfrozen, some of its impacts may be hard to reverse.

Read the full story here.

National City Apartment Complex Is Not What It Seems

Tenants of an aging affordable housing complex in National City have complained for years about water damage, mold, roaches and poor management. But the owners of the apartment complex aren’t your ordinary landlords.

The complex is controlled by top union leaders who also manage a coalition of labor unions called the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, according to a report by inewsource. The coalition represents more than a dozen labor unions and thousands of workers throughout the region.

The coalition set up this 450-unit apartment complex as a nonprofit, generating an average of $5.2 million every year in untaxed rent and laundry payments from tenants. Union leaders regularly put that money toward various political causes, influencing elections for city councils and school boards across the region, financing ballot initiatives that advance labor interests, as well as carving out six-figure salaries for themselves, inewsource reported.

In the past five years, the apartment complex has contributed nearly $1 million on campaigns to lift prohibitions on project labor agreements for construction projects in San Diego and Chula Vista. The coalition also helped elect one of their own to the Imperial Beach City Council, Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez, who is listed as its business representative and political organizer, and works for the apartment complex.

Now, the coalition plans to expand its landlord status, setting its sights on a new affordable apartment complex. 

VOSD Podcast: The Dems Are So Back!

On the latest episode of your favorite local affairs podcast, the County’s Board of Supervisors is back in the hands of Democrats after Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre defeated Chula Vista Mayor John McCann in a special election to fill the vacant District 1 seat. What does Aguirre’s victory mean for the direction of the County? 

Listen to the full episode here.

In Other News 

• Some Board trustees at Grossmont Union High School may have manipulated last year’s board elections with pay-to-play transactions and “ghost” candidates, according to text messages and emails obtained via public records requests. (Union-Tribune)
• The Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach officially reopened Monday after being closed for 18 months. The pier closed in December 2023 due to damage from several storms. (KPBS)
• As the Trump administration has touted that its ongoing mass deportation campaign is targeting primarily hardened criminals, inewsource obtained data showing that’s not the case in San Diego.
• A tragic accident at Mission Trails inspired plans to make the park safer, but after four years the project has been put on pause due to cancelled federal grants and funding issues. (CBS8)

The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Tessa Balc. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.

The post Morning Report: Trump’s Latest Funding Freeze Impacts Local K-12 Schools appeared first on Voice of San Diego.