One of the many major actions taken by the Trump administration in its first few months was ordering the dismantling of the Department of Education. A recent executive order directed the Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states.” Over 50% of the department’s staff have already been laid off and that number is expected to grow. Officially closing the department would require an act of Congress but, according to NBC News, the administration could “effectively make it nearly impossible for employees to carry out their work.” The executive order does state that despite the closure, the government should continue to “ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely”, but it is unclear what funding will be saved and what will be cut. Unions representing families and teachers have blasted the decision, saying it could be detrimental to public schools and hurt all students.
The primary roles of the Department of Education are managing federal student aid and other loans, enforcing civil rights laws, and providing some direct funding to K-12 schools. According to the Education Data Initiative, 13.6% of K-12 education funding in the United States comes from the federal government. This primarily comes in the form of Title I funds for schools with high proportions of low-income students and IDEA, which supports students with disabilities. Minneapolis Public Schools received approximately $49M from the federal government for the 24-25 school year, which accounts for about 7.78% of the district’s General Fund.
A district spokesperson told The Navigator that “Minneapolis Public Schools is focused on continuing to support students while monitoring federal announcements and consulting with our partners to assess and respond accordingly…title funding is critical to providing support to MPS students, and students across our state and country. While we are not yet in a position of having to face the reality of funding being reduced or withdrawn, we will be prepared to respond as needed.”
The state government is also responding to the potential for funding cuts. In a letter to Minnesota families and educators, state education commissioner Willie Jett said that the unclear and broad executive actions put “key programs at risk by uprooting long standing protections and supports [that] students and schools depend on every day. These actions have consequences on our rural communities, schools across the state, students from low-income families and those needing special education services–and they are avoidable.” He assures that the state “will continue to advocate for the stability, resources, and policies that ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed.” Community members are encouraged to share their feedback regarding proposed federal education cuts with the Minnesota Department of Education through their new portal, which can be found on the department’s website education.mn.gov.
A lot is still up in the air, but education overall is clearly a top target for the Trump administration. Project 2025, a far-right policy guide that the administration has so far closely followed, calls for significant cuts to public school funding. According to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning public policy organization, Project 2025 “proposed disinvestments in programs that support states in meeting the academic needs of the nation’s most vulnerable students, including students with disabilities served by [IDEA] and low-income students at Title I-eligible schools.” The organization states that phasing out Title I would reduce national teacher positions by 180,000 positions, which is 5.64% of the workforce. Some states would be impacted more than others, such as Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Florida, and Louisiana who would see reductions near or above 10%.
The administration has already gone after many universities that receive federal funding, most notably Harvard. The administration has ordered these institutions to make major changes to leadership, admissions, diversity, and more or lose billions of dollars. While it is unclear whether Title I and other federal funding will be reduced or eliminated for K-12 schools, it is clear that the Trump administration is seeking drastic changes to education in this country.
