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Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024

Did Donald Trump threaten to withhold funding to schools based on how they teach history?

Tom Kertscher, Wisconsin Watch
yes

Former President Donald Trump said in a TV interview he would withhold federal funding from schools based on how they teach history.

Repeating a pledge he made campaigning, Trump told "Fox & Friends" he would close the U.S. Education Department.

Host Brian Kilmeade asked: "So, let's say you have a liberal city … and they just decide, 'Oh, we're going to get rid of that history. We have new history. This is America built off the backs of slaves on stolen land.' And that curriculum comes in."

Trump replied: “Then we don't send them money. We would save half of our budget.”

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers made the claim about what Trump said in an interview about the Nov. 5 election.

About 14% of the $857 billion in fiscal 2022 public K-12 school funding was federal, according to an August 2024 report from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

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