Story co-produced with Marie Spencer
President-Elect Donald Trump ran on a campaign aligned with Project 2025, a document outlining the GOP’s plan to instill radical changes to public policy. Written by The Heritage Foundation and other conservative organizations, Project 2025 proposes several significant changes for the U.S. government, including dismantling the federal Department of Education. This raises questions on the future of funding public schools, Title 1 schools and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
“IEP funding and special education students could potentially lose their funding because a lot of their funding comes from the federal level. And Title 1 schools, which is a lot of schools in North Carolina, will lose that funding potentially if [the Department of Education] were abolished,” said Emma Cannon, WCU senior elementary education major.
Cannon speaks more about her concerns over the potential removal of the Department of Education.
WCU’s College of Education and Allied Professionals trains students like Cannon to become future educators. However, these students’ futures may look different than expected with Project 2025’s proposed elimination of the Department of Education.
See the full Project 2025 document. The chapter on the Department of Education begins on page 319.
A bill to dissolve the Department was filed on Nov. 21 in U.S. Congress by a Republican senator from South Dakota, Mike Rounds. If this were to pass, the effects on the funding of the public school system would be monumental around the country.
Currently, the federal Department of Education oversees K-12 public schools and colleges through policymaking and funding. One goal of Project 2025 is for the funding of public schools to rely solely on the state and local government.
The federal Department of Education contributes about $79 billion, or 8% of the funding of public K-12 schools’ total budget, according to its website. While this percentage seems small, it is still significant, especially to lower income and Title 1 schools.
Title 1 schools are allocated a higher amount of federal funding due to having a higher number of students from lower-income families and a higher number of students with disabilities. This funding provides resources for educational programs and services to support students’ academic goals and to bridge educational gaps and socioeconomic disadvantages.
These resources, which lower class sizes, increase teacher salaries and provide extra support for students such as tutoring services, are directly associated with academic success. A research brief authored by Bruce Baker, a professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, found that increased funding, particularly in low-income public schools, was directly correlated to increases in student test scores and graduation rates.
Repealing the Department of Education would result in these resources being slashed from budgets, resulting in an already misrepresented generation of students being further left behind. Furthermore, this would disproportionately affect students who learn through Individualized Education Plans.
IEPs are specialized programs designed for students with intellectual and physical disabilities to help them succeed in the classroom. IEPs were created as part of the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Project 2025 proposes to restructure funding for IDEA.
“Most IDEA funding should be converted into a no-strings formula block grant targeted at students with disabilities and distributed directly to local education agencies by Health and Human Service’s Administration for Community Living,” stated in the official Project 2025 document on page 326.
Currently, the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services oversees IDEA. Under the Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living, there would be no minimum standard of funding allocated to schools to support students with IEPs. This change could result in schools being severely underfunded and unprepared to meet the needs of students with IEPs.
Project 2025 also wants to rethink how these students receive funding. The document proposes an individual student education budget instead of the current block of funding handled by a child’s school. This style of budget would give parents control over the state and local funding allocated for their child, not the schools.
“Something like this is really scary to me as an educator,” said JT Kelly, a student of WCU’s Education Department. “When funding is decided by parents, it sounds like a great thing. But when we consider that some parents have higher incomes than other parents, children of high-income families will receive more funding, and therefore a more thorough and well-rounded education. This is not equitable. Every child should be allowed access to all the same aspects of education, regardless of things that they cannot control, such as socioeconomic status.”
Stripping the federal Department of Education will affect how every public school in America is funded and impact the quality of education each student receives. However, as aforementioned, Title 1 schools and students with IEPs who rely on increased governmental support will bear the brunt of reduced funding.
“Our nation’s economy depends on a well-educated, high-quality workforce, and that means investing in all students,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, in an LPI press release. “Right now, in many states, schools with the highest-need students receive fewer resources than those serving the most affluent, which translates to less experienced teachers, larger classes, and, ultimately, lower graduation rates and lower achievement levels. Investments in these students are investments in their future and ours. If we don’t ensure they have the quality schools that their wealthier peers have, we deny far too many of them the opportunity to succeed and to contribute to society.”
Rounds’ bill is currently under consideration by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. A bill has to be debated and passed by the committee before going to the Senate and House of Representatives. The bill is filled as part of the current 118th Congress, which concludes on Jan. 3, 2025.
