LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to shut down the U.S. Department of Education.
On Friday, the Michigan House passed House Resolution 55 in support of Trump’s plan to end the federal department that was created in 1979.
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What is still to be determined is what would happen to the billions in dollars the department gave Michigan’s K-12 schools.
The executive order.
Trump’s executive order states, “The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
Since the pandemic started in the 2019-20 school year, K-12 schools have received $20.3 billion in federal money during that six-year span, averaging $3.38 billion a year, or about 11% of all funding. For K-12 schools, federal funding targeted school districts with students from low-income families via Title I grants as well as funding for special education. Among other things, these federal dollars paid for some teacher salaries.
An act of Congress.
It will take more than Trump’s executive order to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Congress needs to approve it. And Trump’s executive order is almost certain to face legal challenges. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a group of 20 attorneys general in a lawsuit filed March 7 to stop Trump’s mass layoffs of federal employees, including those from the U.S. Department of Education.
A bill introduced Jan. 13 by North Carolina Congressman David Rouzer gives some insight on how the dismantling of the department of education could occur. Rouzer’s bill would abolish the federal education department and transfer much of its responsibilities to other federal departments. For example, the special education grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would be taken over by the Department of Health and Human Services and the student loans Federal Pell Grant program would go to the Treasury.
What’s the impact?
The impact of abolishing the education department would be felt the most by urban school districts with more economically disadvantaged students. For example, in Oakland County, Pontiac School District received $4,914 per-pupil in federal funds to its General Fund in 2023-24 while Birmingham Public Schools got just $535 per-pupil.
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Ending the U.S. Department of Education is not a new idea. Republican presidential candidates campaigned on abolishing the federal education department in the 1980s and 1990s and the Libertarian Party made it part of its platform as far back as the 1990s.