Trump's dismantling of the Department of Education sends states scrambling for funding

President Donald Trump has said he wants his new education chief, Linda McMahon, to “put herself out of a job.” Since Trump took office, staffing at the Education Department has been cut in half, and he has been mulling an executive order to close the agency.

Eliminating the department altogether would be a cumbersome task, which likely would require an act of Congress. Already, the Trump administration has started overhauling much of the department’s work. Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful. It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.

In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz (D) is outlining how students and families will be impacted by the potential dismantling of the Department of Education. Walz says Minnesota relies on federal funding to provide students with teacher training, disability resources and early learning programs.

"The detrimental impact on children, individual children that it will have, it will undermine our ability both from innovation in this country to economics by undermining the very principle that set America apart from the rest of the world, the idea of an equal education," Walz said at a press conference Wednesday.

Over a thousand jobs within the department have already been cut. Walz stresses that the move could leave schools in low income neighborhoods in a difficult position.

"Look, we all know, when this happens, if schools end up short, they turn to referendums, and if they're in rich neighborhoods with high property taxes, they pass referendums and they fund the things they need," says Walz. "If they're not? They go without."

Minnesota is also relying on federal dollars to help fund the state's universal free school meals program.

Minnesota educators are expressing concern as well, as the federal government inches closer to dissolving the U.S Department of Education. Dr. Brenda Lewis is the Superintendent of the Fridley school district and joined Governor Walz to talk about the impact of such a move.

"I've been in education for over 25 years," Lewis says. "I did not dream that I would have to be here to defend the work that we do every day and to ensure that the federal dollars get delivered."

Lewis says the district is diverse, with nearly 80% students of color and coming from low income households.  She says cutting federal dollars would directly impact many of the programs they have for students who need extra help.

"And you tell me, what they're doing yesterday and today improves one student's education or saves one damn penny because what they're trying to do is cut the money to give tax cuts," Governor Walz adds. "It's time for us to speak truth to it."

It isn't just Minnesota either. Both Wisconsin's Governor Tony Evers and Delaware Governor Matt Meyer chimed in, with a blunt assessment from Evers.

“Former educators, we’re going to fight like hell to make sure our public schools and nation delivers on a promise that ensures that every kid receives a high quality education,” said Evers. “President Trump and Republicans want to eliminate the Department of Education, cut funding to our public schools, sell out Wisconsin kids and schools all so that they can pay for tax breaks to rich millionaires and billionaires like Elon Musk. And I'm sorry, but that is bulls***. I know Wisconsin kids and our schools. Getting rid of the U.S. Department of Education and making devastating cuts to public education would be a catastrophe – simple as that.”

The agency’s main role is financial. Annually, it distributes billions in federal money to colleges and schools and manages the federal student loan portfolio. Closing the department would mean redistributing each of those duties to another agency. The Education Department also plays an important regulatory role in services for students, ranging from those with disabilities to low-income and homeless kids.

Indeed, federal education money is central to Trump’s plans for colleges and schools. Trump has vowed to cut off federal money for schools and colleges that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” and to reward states and schools that end teacher tenure and support universal school choice programs.

Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%. Colleges and universities are more reliant on it, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.

Here is a look at some of the department’s key functions, and how Trump has said he might approach them.

The Education Department manages approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for over 40 million borrowers. It also oversees the Pell Grant, which provides aid to students below a certain income threshold, and administers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ), which universities use to allocate financial aid.

President Joe Biden’s administration made cancellation of student loans a signature effort of the department’s work. Even though Biden’s initial attempt to cancel student loans was overturned by the Supreme Court, the administration forgave over $175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers through a range of changes to programs it administers, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

The loan forgiveness efforts have faced Republican pushback, including litigation from several GOP-led states.

Trump has criticized Biden’s efforts to cancel debt as illegal and unfair, calling it a “total catastrophe” that “taunted young people.” Trump’s plan for student debt is uncertain: He has not put out detailed plans.

Through its Office for Civil Rights, the Education Department conducts investigations and issues guidance on how civil rights laws should be applied, such as for LGBTQ+ students and students of color. The office also oversees a large data collection project that tracks disparities in resources, course access and discipline for students of different racial and socioeconomic groups.

Trump has suggested a different interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. Under his administration, the department has instructed the office to prioritize complaints of antisemitism above all else and has opened investigations into colleges and school sports leagues for allowing transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.

In his campaign platform, Trump said he would pursue civil rights cases to “stop schools from discriminating on the basis of race.” He has described diversity and equity policies in education as “explicit unlawful discrimination” and said colleges that use them will pay fines and have their endowments taxed.

Trump also has pledged to exclude transgender students from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms. Originally passed in 1972, Title IX was first used as a women’s rights law. Last year, Biden’s administration said the law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, but a federal judge undid those protections.

While the Education Department does not directly accredit colleges and universities, it oversees the system by reviewing all federally recognized accrediting agencies. Institutions of higher education must be accredited to gain access to federal money for student financial aid.

Accreditation came under scrutiny from conservatives in 2022, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools questioned political interference at Florida public colleges and universities. Trump has said he would fire “radical left accreditors” and take applications for new accreditors that would uphold standards including “defending the American tradition” and removing “Marxist” diversity administrators.

Although the education secretary has the authority to terminate its relationship with individual accrediting agencies, it is an arduous process that has rarely been pursued. Under President Barack Obama, the department took steps to cancel accreditors for a now-defunct for-profit college chain, but the Trump administration blocked the move. The group, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, was terminated by the Biden administration in 2022.

Much of the Education Department’s money for K-12 schools goes through large federal programs, such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Those programs support services for students with disabilities, lower class sizes with additional teaching positions, and pay for social workers and other non-teaching roles in schools.

During his campaign, Trump called for shifting those functions to the states. He has not offered details on how the agency’s core functions of sending federal money to local districts and schools would be handled.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a sweeping proposal outlining a far-right vision for the country, offered a blueprint. It suggested sending oversight of programs for kids with disabilities and low-income children first to the Department of Health and Human Services, before eventually phasing out the funding and converting it to no-strings-attached grants to states.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.