In recent weeks, we’ve seen federal and state governments issue stop-work orders, withdraw contracts, and terminate employees in the name of “government efficiency.” When it comes to research, however, nothing is more inefficient than canceling studies that are already underway.
As a tenure-track university professor who studies ways to increase access to high-quality early learning, I have been personally affected by the shortsighted decisions of the current administration to cut research funding. About two weeks ago, I received an email that the work and spending on a large state-contracted research grant was to be immediately paused until further notice.
Nine days later, I got a follow-up email that the contract was terminated due to state budget constraints and the need to prioritize federally mandated work. No other explanation was provided. With that, our four-year study abruptly came to an end.
Up to this point, I had been collecting data on the effectiveness of early childhood education to better understand how best to prepare children for kindergarten. We were specifically focused on the experiences of children from low-income families who receive child care subsidies in the Republican-led midwestern state where our research originated.
This project was developed with state agency administrators to ensure public dollars spent on early learning and pre-K programming are invested efficiently. By the time the project was halted, over $1.5 million had already been spent — dollars that, now, have largely been wasted. The answers we sought to critical policy questions, including how to maximize the benefits of publicly funded pre-K, are no longer within reach.
The weeks since I heard this news have been chaotic. I’ve spent time trying to figure out how to proceed with this research in the absence of funding, as well as advising personnel on how to shift their responsibilities during a time of incredible uncertainty. What I have learned is that there are few protections in place for when research like mine must suddenly cease and financial accounts must close. Until recently, the idea that a grant would be canceled midstream, without warning, would have been regarded as dystopian.
I know of no excess pots of money to ease the transition for those who work day-to-day to move the research forward. I have needed to stop non-essential work and scrounge for any supplemental money that can sustain only the most critical research activities. Worst of all, I will likely be forced to let go of hardworking and high-performing employees.
A few weeks ago, the Department of Education canceled almost $900 million in research funding for the Institute of Education Sciences. Many of these federal contracts were studies, like ours, that seek to examine how the education system can best support student success. The consequence, as is the case with my halted state grant, is that people will lose access to data and information that helps them make evidence-based decisions about early childhood spending.
These state and federal actions not only threaten science and innovation but also undermine the work of researchers seeking to make a difference in the lives of children and families. The ripple effects will be far-reaching, impacting low-income students who receive educational services, government employees responsible for executing programs and policies, and the productivity of early career scholars, such as myself, who are racing against the tenure clock.
I am sharing my story to give a voice to those who have unexpectedly found themselves in similar circumstances as a result of these cruel tactics masquerading as “government efficiency.” Stopping this important work severely undercuts efforts to improve education in this country. It will be a major setback for our understanding of “what works” in education. It is also the textbook definition of inefficient.
Jenn Finders, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on the role of early care and education programs in promoting cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional learning among children from underrepresented backgrounds. She was previously a faculty member at Purdue University. Finders enjoys running, hiking, biking, cooking, and spending time in the mountains in her free time.
The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and may not reflect the views of institutions with which she is affiliated.