As STEM faces a funding crisis, we’re dismantling public broadcasting — our best educational safety net

The numbers are stark: The new federal budget slashes National Science Foundation STEM education funding by 75% to just $288 million — less than half of what we spent on science education in 1959, when adjusted for inflation.

As Erik Jacobson, associate professor of mathematics education at Indiana University, warned on LinkedIn: “These cuts imperil the U.S. scientific pipeline. Tomorrow’s scientists are in school today. Along with proposed restrictions on student visas, the U.S. scientific enterprise will atrophy, starved of personnel, and American scientific leadership will wither.”

But here’s what makes this crisis even more concerning: Just as STEM education faces its steepest cuts in decades, we’re simultaneously dismantling the broadcast infrastructure that proved essential during our last education emergency.

When COVID-19 forced schools into remote learning, many districts scrambled to serve students without reliable internet access. In the Lehigh Valley, like communities across the country, families had a lifeline: their local public television station.

The Bethlehem, Pa.-based station where I worked, PBS39, was among the first stations nationwide to launch comprehensive distance learning programming. We created Lehigh Valley Learns, a curriculum-aligned broadcast schedule that required nothing more than a TV antenna to access. Each grade level received two and a half hours of educational programming at the same time each day, creating structure for families navigating an unprecedented crisis.

The response was immediate and profound. One parent called to tell us how her fifth grader, despite having no computer at home, stayed dedicated to the weekly programming because the public broadcast provided essential structure.

Districts throughout the region shared our schedule with families, recognizing that broadcast television could reach students that digital platforms simply couldn’t.

This wasn’t charity — it was essential infrastructure. Through partnerships with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we became a credible support system for school districts serving some of our most vulnerable communities.

In normal times, I would expect PBS39 and other public television stations to be strategizing with educational partners about how to address the funding cuts. We’d be developing new STEM programming, expanding classroom partnerships, and leveraging our distinctive ability to reach every household with a television.

But these aren’t normal times. The White House and congressional Republicans are simultaneously pushing to eliminate funding for PBS and NPR.

While that effort faces legal challenges, the threat creates an impossible situation: Just when the nation needs educational broadcasting most, those of us at public media outlets are being asked to plan our own obsolescence.

Consider what this means practically. When the next education crisis hits — and it will — school districts may face it without a key partner that can reach virtually every student, regardless of family income or internet access.

The infrastructure that proved invaluable during COVID lockdowns may simply not exist.

Public media’s educational role extends far beyond emergency response. Unlike commercial broadcasters focused on ratings and revenue, public television stations build programming around community needs. During COVID, that meant creating educational routines for families, not just content.

This capacity represents decades of institutional knowledge about educational broadcasting, relationships with state education departments, and trust within communities. Once dismantled, it won’t be quickly rebuilt.

As Jacobson noted, tomorrow’s scientists are in school today. But if we eliminate both federal STEM education funding and the broadcast infrastructure that can support local educational initiatives, we’re creating a perfect storm that will weaken American scientific leadership for generations.

What feels like a short-term political win for Republicans will become a long-term loss for everyone who depends on American innovation and scientific advancement.

Yoni Greenbaum is the former chief operating officer and chief content officer at Lehigh Valley Public Media, home to PBS39 and 91.3 WLVR.