Thursday, March 27, 2025
As President Trump aims to shut down the U.S. Department of Education, local educators and school officials are grappling with what the move could mean for funding, resources and the future of public education in their communities.
One of Trump’s longstanding campaign promises is to shutter the department. To do so, however, he would need an act of Congress, to undo what Congress created more than 45 years ago. The Department of Education was established in 1979, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, as a cabinet-level agency. Its mission was to promote student achievement and equal access to education. According to the department’s website, its elementary and secondary programs now serve more than 50 million students in some 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools.
One of the main concerns among educators is the potential loss of Title I funding if the department is shut down. The federal Title I program provides financial support to schools with high percentages of low-income students. Despite ongoing concerns about how money is distributed and how results are measured, the program has had bipartisan support over the years, with Republicans and Democrats alike recognizing the need to address the nation’s educational inequalities.
Debra Sheinin, president of the Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education, said that district administrators are monitoring the situation in Washington closely.
“The most immediate concern would be the loss of Title I funding, which currently supports two of our districts buildings, as well as reductions in special-education funding,” Sheinin said. “However, these programs could be transferred to another agency’s oversight, so given that uncertainty, I think it’s important to monitor the situation closely before making any assumptions about the long-term impact.”
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 93 percent of school districts in the United States use Title I funding to support low-income students.
Rachel Kreiss, president of the Lawrence Teachers Association, also shared her concerns about the future of the Title I program, saying that school staffing could take a hit if the program ended with the disbanding of the DOE.
“A large majority of our population benefits from having Title I,” Kreiss said. “In terms of funding, for any school district, if federal funding starts to get cut, it does play a part in not only the education, but the staffing of people. There are people who work in districts who work under Title I money.”
Other programs overseen by the department could also be at risk of cancellation or being or moved to another federal agency. Among them are special-education programs and those supported by Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grants, which, with a loss of federal oversight, could leave states to determine how to support students with disabilities. The uncertainty extends to Pell Grants and federal student loans, which help millions of low- and middle-income students afford college.
The department has long been something of a lightning rod for criticism. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan talked of eliminating it as a cabinet agency. Trump proposed abolishing it during his first term, nearly a decade ago, and during his latest campaign for president in 2023, he released a video saying that he looked to do so early in his second term, claiming that despite pouring trillions of dollars into education, the country ranked “last” in education. According to EssayHub.com, however, the United States ranks 13th in the world in education, and is home to 11 of the world’s top 20 universities.
To close the Department of Education, the support of a supermajority in the Senate — 60 out 100 senators — would be required. In 2023, a vote in the House of Representatives on amending a House rule to abolish the department failed to pass, when 60 Republicans joined all of the Democrats in opposing the measure.
New York state has shown its support for the department, crediting its extensive efforts to protect and prioritize historically neglected students. The State Education Department, commenting on Trump’s recent executive orders, stated, “We denounce the intolerant rhetoric of these orders. Our children cannot thrive in an environment of chaos; they need steady and stable leadership that we will endeavor to provide.”
Have an opinion on the president’s plans for the Department of Education? Send a letter to mberman@liherald.com.
