Across the United States, recent federal funding cuts are weakening government organizations nationwide. 

President Donald Trump issued emergency executive orders aimed towards rerouting or freezing existing funds that were almost immediately implemented, constituting a mass withdrawal of millions of dollars from a variety of programs supporting initiatives from child protection to food stamps.

“This government has voiced that they feel like some of this money is being mismanaged or not going to something that is fully representative of all of the American people,” History and AP Government teacher Bronwen Callahan said. “The general idea of the government spending less could be seen as, ‘Great. That’s less taxes for me.’ People usually only start thinking about cons if they’re economically minded, or if all of a sudden the services they have relied on are getting cut.”

Certain executive orders are being challenged by lower courts, many of which believe Congress should have approved the cuts first. California itself has been pushing back against the executive orders on the Department of Education, with the state and multiple school districts suing the government for taking away grants and firing education staff. 

However, millions of dollars in funds are still being withheld from their system, directly hindering Californian education programs from after-school services and ESL classes to teacher training initiatives. At K-12 public schools across the state, programs like these are being cut back or canceled completely.

“Federal funding cuts immediately affect everything,” Callahan said. “Federal funding for schools, for example, can help fund things like kickstart programs or preschool and daycare. It can affect resources that schools are able to provide for their students. When the federal government cuts the funding to those places, it’s essentially putting more responsibility on the state.”

The government justifies the cuts as an attempt to reroute tax dollars from unnecessary initiatives, especially DEI. But many of the cuts also apply to federal systems that provide essential aid, like student loans and Medicaid, are also facing cuts that could decrease the aid given and place further burdens on state budgets.

AP Government student Yena Yu (12) believes people in the Bay Area who are already vulnerable and rely on government aid will struggle to find other sources of aid. Local organizations like San Francisco Community Health Center, which has lost over half its funds, may shut down some of their aid services. Yena hopes for a growth in state and nonprofit aid programs from local support. 

“In California, homelessness and housing cuts are going to cause a lot more pressures on nonprofits,” Yena said. “But since nonprofits are now going to have a lot more to handle, there will probably be more awareness within the Bay Area. In the future when the federal funds are restored, that interest in nonprofits will continue and we can create a strong base of support for nonprofits.”

In the Bay Area, home of many prominent research universities, cuts to scientific governmental programs have taken on a significant focus. For Harker students who conduct research in high school or plan to conduct research in college, research cuts can have a direct impact. At the beginning of this year, the administration began auditing federal funding for National Science grants through a presidential executive order, attempting to cut out funding for far-left or DEI-related science.

Many universities nationwide rely on federal grants from organizations like the National Institutes of Health to fund large portions of their research. Now, even previously promised grants are at risk of being discontinued, drastically decreasing the amount of research that can be done at prominent California universities like UCLA.

“The funding cuts to research will be very debilitating in the long run,” student researcher Kayla Chen (11) said. “I know a lot of Harker kids doing research who will continue in college as well. If universities receive funding cuts, a significantly smaller number of students will be able to do research, and it’ll be more competitive for students.”

While the funding redistribution effort has made progress, some researchers moved to preserve their research grants. The administration audits based on keywords, especially those related to DEI. Affected researchers have tried to revise their research proposals to circumvent restrictions and continue their experiments.

“My friends lost their funding and are entirely reshaping their five-year PhD program so they can still get funding next year,” biology teacher Eric Johnson said. “That’s what scientists are doing because they know that no matter what, they want to do their science. If that’s what the system is and that’s what the administration is, they’re going to do whatever they do because they care genuinely about science.”

Sophomore Yimo Xie, who closely followed the news on the funding cuts, advocates for youth inclusion within the mental health policy making sphere. He worries youth will be increasingly cut off from important scientific conversations as funds are redirected away from academic enrichment.

“It’s important for high schoolers to conduct research so they can gain experience and also help contribute to the research world,” Yimo said. “When institutions are faced with funding cuts, usually the first programs to go are youth programs.”

Johnson describes the administration’s current redirection of funding as an “attack on science” that will have far-reaching effects.

“It’s not just researchers in universities,” Johnson said. “It’s all people going to the doctor, because they’re not able to pay for their care. You affect science, you affect technology, you affect medicine, you affect natural resources, you affect engineering. There’s no single unilateral attack on science. You affect every one of those industries.”

Although the current research environment may appear to be in jeopardy, the research redistribution policies can be reversed. In 2009, former president Obama signed an executive order that rolled back Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. In the case of a similar reversal in the future, Johnson urges Harker students to maintain their faith in science, not just as a career path, but as an avenue to advance the state of technology, medicine and nature.

“I see younger generations where there is hope,” Johnson said. “There is a belief in younger generations that things will change. As research continues forward, it needs to be hand in hand with the government. I can imagine that a day will come where there will be a more supportive administration around science. It’s not happening right now, but my urge to students is to keep educating yourself. Education keeps me hopeful.”

Even outside of cuts that directly affect our lives, Harker students may soon see an impact. Although the decline of aid programs or public education may not directly affect our private institutions like Harker, students and faculty alike still utilize public services like firefighters and public transport like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

“You are a student at Harker,” Callahan said. “You’re living in the Bay Area. You are going to go out in the world. You are driving on the streets. You are living in the country that is making these decisions, and it might not affect you personally right now, but it will eventually. You might not see it immediately, but you will. And for better or for worse, depending on your view on these cuts, it’s going to change how things are done or what services are provided.”