Update: Trump Backs Off Cuts to Special Olympics

UPDATE: President announced Thursday afternoon that he is backing off a budget request to cut funding for the Special Olympics. The announcement comes after days of criticism for the proposed cut.

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An earlier CCX News story looked at how local programs would have been impacted by the budget-cutting proposal. An initial Trump administration education budget proposal would have cut nearly $18 million that the Special Olympics receives annually from the Department of Education. That money is used to fund education programs for what the Special Olympics calls the Inclusive School Initiative.

The CEO of Special Olympics Minnesota said it wouldn’t have affected schools that currently have the program. However, it would have prevented the education programs from growing in the future.

“Once they’ve reached that ‘champion school status,’ they are pretty much self funding because they are doing fundraisers on their own,” said Dave Dorn, president of Special Olympics Minnesota. “They have support throughout the community and so the money they are talking about is seed money for growth. So what it could do down the road is it could slow our growth a little bit.”

Osseo Middle School, Wayzata High School and Breck School in Golden Valley are all apart of the Inclusive School Initiative.

Breck School

Wayzata High School