When leaders in Washington talk about cutting the Department of Education, it might sound like political theater. But in a city like Jackson, Mississippi, these decisions have real consequences. They impact real students, real classrooms, and real futures.

In March 2025, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon laid off almost half of the department’s workforce. That includes staff from offices that handle federal student aid and protect students’ civil rights. Just a few months later, about $6.8 billion in already approved federal education funding was frozen. These funds support everything from teacher training to English language learning and after-school programs. Mississippi alone is missing out on an estimated $51 million as a result.

After-school programs are not just always an optional enrichment. They are often lifelines. They give students a safe place to go, access to extra academic help, and opportunities for mentorship. For working parents, they are critical. And for students facing difficult circumstances at home, they are often the only consistent support system outside of school hours. When that funding disappears, so do these programs.

At the same time, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was signed into law this July. Among other things, it ends subsidized loans for undergraduate students and creates tighter restrictions on Pell Grant eligibility. That makes college even more expensive and harder to access for families everywhere. When you take away the hope that higher education is possible, you take away one of the strongest incentives students have to stay focused and push through challenges in middle and high school. For many, college is not just a dream, it is the reason they try.

Jackson’s schools already serve students who are too often overlooked and underfunded. Federal programs are what help bridge the gap. When those supports are taken away, the burden falls on local school districts that are already stretched thin. Teachers are left to fill in the gaps with fewer resources, and students are the ones who lose the most. A friend of mine who recently began teaching in JPS put it simply, “We’re already understaffed, underpaid, and overstretched. If federal support continues to disappear, a lot of us teachers may not even be able to afford to stay, and the students will suffer because of that in addition to everything else.”

We need investment, not abandonment. And if lawmakers want to talk about freedom, they need to understand that there’s no freedom in a failing school system.