Public education is under attack

Ben DiLullo

Political agendas are controlled by individuals that do not have our students’ and families’ interests at heart, and are driven by actors often devoid of independent, evidence-based consideration.”

-Ben DiLullo

Public education is under attack. Recent actions taken by President Trump and Congress will directly reduce funding to school districts, which has added even more urgency to a local crisis that is a direct threat to our Mahopac schools.

Hostile interests have been inserting themselves into local school politics for several years, undermining trust in our public schools. Brazen partisan politics have been injected into school board elections, which has tainted the integrity of these contests. Mahopac parents may not fully appreciate how this will impact their children’s education, but they must advocate now or risk a downward slide toward substandard education.

On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order with the intention of dismantling the core functions of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). On July 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to stay a preliminary lower court injunction halting the process. Removing a bureaucratic agency is not itself necessarily bad; however, discontinuing the critical funding that the DOE provides to states such as IDEA grants and ESEA funds will severely reduce local school districts’ ability to meet their financial needs.

The DOE is currently withholding $464 million in grants intended for New York state public schools, according to a July 1 article by Education Week.

Based on this information, the Mahopac Central School District could potentially lose up to $1 million that had been previously approved (based on 2025-26 budget presentations), and more importantly, future federal funding.

Parents might not realize this, but Medicaid is a critical part of educational funding.

“Cutting Medicaid is equivalent to cutting school district budgets,” said Jessie Mandle, the national program director at the nonprofit Healthy Schools Campaign, as reported in "How Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy bill will affect children and schools," Chalkbeat, Kalyn Belsha, July 3, 2025. “School districts are … aware of how important Medicaid dollars are to serve students with disabilities, address the youth mental crisis, [and] address students’ behavioral health needs.”

School boards are entrusted with making decisions that impact our children's education, well-being, and future. In New York State, school boards are not partisan offices. Injecting partisan activities, endorsements, platforms and funding invites impropriety of the highest magnitude. Political agendas are controlled by individuals that do not have our students’ and families’ interests at heart, and are driven by actors often devoid of independent, evidence-based consideration. These candidates are now beholden to their benefactors and the views and positions of the party-line.

In Mahopac, a small, ill-intended, vulgar gang of misguided community members can destroy a district in an election cycle fueled by the toxic reach of social media, notorious for spreading misinformation and lies. These single-minded extremists have grossly distorted the truth, making defamatory statements that slander administrators and board members. These self-serving and petty individuals are motivated by personal agendas and grievances, claiming a moral foundation but more often are simply looking for an outlet for their own frustration. Their claims are often hypocritical and hyperbolic, finding an audience in social media groups primed for anger and disconnected from the reality of modern-day education and lacking a basic understanding of how organizations function.

The school board is charged with listening to all parents, serving the needs of all students and making decisions based on facts and data - not putting the interests of friends, families and neighbors above students. The community of students is the community it serves. It is that simple.

Not many people attend school board meetings. Those who attend are usually very happy or very unhappy. Where are the other voices? Where are the calm, reasonable, concerned citizens that generally think our schools are good and keep property values healthy? Where are the parents who are grateful to live in a town where their small children feel safe, protected and nurtured at school? What about the people who value the quality of the curriculum, the educators, the arts and music programs, the preparedness of high school graduates for college and real-life experiences, and the staff who are there for kids who need extra guidance and services? The children who otherwise wouldn’t have a lunch or someone to help manage big feelings and tough emotional challenges? Those voices are out there, but they aren’t being heard by this board.

There is very little that is improved by overt partisanship, and it is certainly not making our schools better. Only the voices of reasonable parents and taxpayers can drown out the call of partisanship and destructive special interests. Our children's future depends on it.

This column was written by Ben DiLullo, a member of the Mahopac Central School District Board of Education. It was not written or distributed as a column intending to represent his colleagues on the school board.