President Donald Trump has proposed excluding undocumented immigrants from an upcoming U.S. Census, a move that while difficult to execute could dramatically reduce school funding in some states, experts say.

In an early-morning Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said he told the U.S. Department of Commerce to begin work on a new census “based on modern day facts and figures” adding, “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

The U.S. Census count is held once a decade and helps determine federal education funding. Bruce Baker, a professor at the University of Miami and a leading scholar on public school financing, said that if fewer people are counted, federal funding for schools, which is based on census data and child poverty rates, would shrink.

“The states that depend more on federal aid have the most to lose,” he said. And while the percentage of such aid is relatively small, he said, “these days, every dollar matters.”

Pew Research reports the federal government provided 13.6% of total funding for public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal 2022, according to Census Bureau data. The National Education Association said the money helps lower class size, support students with disabilities and feed hungry children. It breaks down the data by state.

Other studies confirm federal education funding varies widely across the U.S. Mississippi reported the greatest percentage of federal education aid in 2022, coming in at 23.3% followed by South Dakota at 21.7%, Montana at 20.9%, Alaska at 20.6% and Arkansas at 20.4%.

Federal money is delivered to schools in many forms, and excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census could impact how funding is allocated. In fiscal year 2024, Pew notes, the Education Department doled out $18.8 billion for schools with large numbers of poor, neglected, delinquent and other “educationally disadvantaged” students, $15.5 billion for special education programs for children with disabilities, $5.5 billion for school improvement, and $2.2 billion for career, technical and adult education among many other grants. The federal government also spent billions on COVID recovery.

Read the full article about excluding undocumented immigrants by Jo Napolitano at The 74.