It’s a truism about businesses: They hate uncertainty.
Yet uncertainty has loomed over conversations at the ASU+GSV Summit, an annual conference that has emerged as a mecca for education company executives and others interested in the marketplace of products and ideas in schools, colleges, and the workforce.
As conference attendees have fanned out to panels, networking events, and private meetings this week, the Trump administration is defending its imposition of sweeping tariffs that have sown confusion for businesses across the economy and sent markets plummeting into near-bear market territory.
Relatively few education companies are publicly traded. But the potential impact of the upheaval — even as Trump on Wednesday abruptly announced a reduction to some of his previously announced tariffs — has broad potential ramifications for education companies, attendees of the show have said.
Some education companies rely on components manufactured in other countries, which could be subject to Trump’s new taxes on imports.
Others said they are worried about countries imposing reciprocal tariffs or other restrictions on U.S. products that would scuttle their ability to sell products in those markets. Many American education companies have a presence in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and other regions, which they see as fertile markets for new products and ideas.
And then there are broader worries about whether the market turmoil and trade upheaval would drag down the overall economy, and squeeze state and local tax revenue streams that support school district budgets and spending.
The ASU+GSV conference draws companies that work in an array of sectors. One manager of a multinational company told EdWeek Market Brief that many of the ideas put forward by Trump during his presidential campaign about deregulation hold an innate appeal for her organization.
But the tumult caused by the tariff policies have raised major questions about the impact on the company’s future investments in the U.S. and other nations, and for the organization’s bottom line.
“I feel like the Trump administration’s approach is to move fast and break things and see what happens,” said the company official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she’s not allowed to represent the company publicly.
“Will they be sued? Will they be reprimanded for what they’re doing?” she asked, referencing legal challenges to administration policies, and resistance in Congress. The administration’s policies “create a lot of volatility in the market. It’s increasing the prices of the goods that we need.”
No Clear Forecast
Specifically, the organization relies on physical goods manufactured in Canada and other markets, which could become much more expensive to import to the U.S.
The company official also is worried that rising costs fueled by the tariffs will have downstream implications in areas like the company’s willingness to invest in hiring. The organization needs skilled workers for specialized jobs.
“That’s where I think there’s going to be more constriction in the market,” she said. “Where there are probably more hiring freezes, and people are expected to do more with less.”
Many companies in the education sector deliver products through online means and through various forms of software, which would not appear to be directly impacted by new taxes on imported goods.
It’s the anxiety among schools and products and distributors…every few days something new is brewing up.
Dhrupal Shah, Co-founder and CEO, STEMpedia
But some education providers that sell hands-on products, particularly in science, math, engineering, and project-based learning, will most likely have to weigh the implications of a more restrictive global trade environment.
STEMpedia is an India-based company that manufactures its hands-on products in that country, sells them internationally, and is trying to grow in the U.S.
Much of the administration’s focus with tariffs and trade policy has been on China — though India was also on the long list of countries targeted for tariffs by the administration — noted Dhrupal Shah, the company’s co-founder and CEO.
He’s hopeful that negotiations between India and the U.S. will allow a relatively open trade policy between the two countries to continue.
His organization’s STEM products are currently sold at about $3,000 to $5,000 per classroom. His organization, which has about 160 employees, won’t know the impact on its ambitions for growth for some time, perhaps for years, until it knows the outcome of any tariff negotiations that play out, Shah said.
But like many ASU+GSV attendees, he described an aura of nervousness and caution among school district buyers and companies that is slowing school spending.
“Budgets are locked right now,” he said. “It will be too [early] to talk about these things” until the environment is allowed to “settle down.”
“It’s the anxiety among schools and products and distributors … every few days something new is brewing up.”
The uncertainty about the downstream implications of the tariffs is already starting to affect the spending decisions and planning in Niles Township School District 219, outside of Chicago.
The district has been planning to buy about 100 projectors for its classrooms, but heard this week that the vendor was planning on raising prices in response to incurring new costs because of tariffs, said Phil Hintz, chief technology officer for the 5,000-student school system.
As a result, Hintz said his school system, which like many is in the middle of its budgeting process for next year, is moving forward with a smaller purchase of about 75 projectors, at a total cost of roughly $75,000.
“We want everybody, every student, to have the same experience, no matter what class they’re in,” he said. “And now all of a sudden, 25 classrooms are not going to have the same advantage as those other 75.”
Shift in Funding, Oversight?
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon spoke at the conference this week. Her appearance follows a series of moves by the administration to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, including gutting the operations of business-attuned programs in the agency’s office of ed-tech and the Small Business Innovation Research program.
The administration also recently threatened to withhold federal Title I aid — an $18 billion program — to states and school districts that run afoul of the administration’s vision for curtailing diversity, equity, and inclusion focused programs.
(It’s unclear how those restrictions would take shape in K-12 schools. The federal government, for instance, is forbidden by law from dictating curriculum at the local level.)
McMahon has said the administration will seek to return more decision-making authority to the states. Hintz questioned the practicality of that move, drawing an analogy to when school districts say they’re going to give classroom educators more authority but then heap more responsibility on them.
“Are they going to deal with all the things the feds used to deal with?” he said of state education agencies.
“They’re going to be like, ‘OK, if I’ve got to do the feds’ work, plus my state work, something’s got to give.’”
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