What are the impacts to southwest Florida if the U.S. Department of Education gets eliminated?

A lot of changes are in store when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. One of those changes is the possible dismantlement of the U.S. Department of Education.

Back in June of this year, at one of his rallies in Philadelphia, Trump said, “We’re moving the Department of Education back to the states and we’re going to do it quickly and, you know, some of our states are going to do a fantastic job with running education if you think about it where we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world and we’re at the bottom of every list.”

Trump says the department is a poor investment for taxpayers and closing the Department of Education is outlined in Agenda47, which is a list of the proposals the Trump campaign outlined they were going to do during his term.

Removing the U.S. Department of Education means fewer checks and balances in our education.

The Education Department’s largest responsibility is giving out federal education funds for grades K-12. Education is ultimately the responsibility of state and local governments but federal money supplements state resources and funds a variety of programs.

Many of these programs are aimed at narrowing funding gaps for low-income or at-risk students. Other responsibilities are advocating for education in rulemaking. 

Some say the elimination is good because educational power should fully go to the individual states but others say the federal oversight is helpful to make sure students are being protected.

Each state has its own Department of Education and gets money from the Federal Department of Education, with strings attached.

Billions of dollars every year go to each state, which then disperses it into the local school districts. It’s important to note that less than 10 percent of each state’s education funding comes from the federal government.

Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education needs congressional approval but we could soon see a world without it.

“Obviously it’s a concern to educators. Here in Florida, we continue to struggle with one of the worst teacher and staff shortages we’ve ever seen, and some of those greatest vacancy numbers are in the area of special education,” Andrew Spar, the President of the Florida Teachers Association said.

Others disagree, like Evan Powers, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

“The Department of Education is an unnecessary burden. It’s obviously not in the constitution. And so it’s an extra step that gets in the way of people educating our kids, and the state is much better equipped than the federal government to meet the needs of kids,” said Power.

Power believes eliminating the federal department would save money, increase local control, and improve responsiveness to parental needs.

“If we make state governments responsive to the people in charge of these programs, you’re going to have much better programs. I think that people need to look at their local government and their state government to solve their problems first, because we know the federal government has not been solving those problems for many decades,” said Power.

If eliminated, states could lose federal funding. It’s unclear if the money will be funneled through different channels.

Those against the elimination say the federal dollars go towards important issues, like children in poverty and children with special needs.

“Voters in the state of Florida continue to make it clear they want strong public schools, we need politicians in Washington to recognize that and to make sure that the decisions we’re making are to support strong public schools in every community. The concerns that we have with the idea of closing the Department of Education is that will put the great public schools that we need for every child and every community in jeopardy,” Spar said.

Spar said without federal funding, poverty-heavy schools face significant challenges in providing equitable resources and support, as many lack the local fundraising capabilities of wealthier schools.

People all over the country are weighing in with their thoughts on the decades-long agency being cut. Some say this move could harm education quality and civil rights enforcement, like Jennifer Sugrue, a FGCU Professor in the College of Education for Leadership and Policy. Her area of specialty is education.

“You don’t expect 50 states to come up with their own plan of an individual with disabilities act. So, that’s the role the federal government, when they say a national need, they can step in and fill that gap instead of waiting to see 50 different states do it so that’s that’s really the role when they see a nationally need, then they step in, they pass legislation, and hopefully not always, but hopefully they fund it to degree that the states can afford it,” Sugrue said.

Sugrue argues that dismantling the department would increase bureaucratic complexity and reduce federal oversight. She said federal funding in supporting national needs and ensuring equitable education is the role of the department, and is skeptical about the efficiency gains from reallocating responsibilities to state and local levels.

“Until I see a plan that demonstrates to me that there are savings, both in fiscal resources and efficiencies, without without taking away inputs that improve the quality of education for children, I remain unconvinced,” Sugrue said.

The U.S. Department of Education has been a hot topic of debate for years. It’s not the first time plans to eliminate the department have surfaced.

Just last year, there was a house vote to close the department. 60 Republicans voted against it. Ronald Reagan also campaigned to get rid of it in 1980.

WINK News reached out to Collier, Charlotte and Lee Public School Districts.

Lee County provided a link to their federal resources.

Charlotte County also provided a link to their federal resources.

Collier County said many programs are supported by federal dollars including but not limited to:

• Title I, Part A Basic is a federal program that provides funds to local school districts to support students from low-income families. 
• Title I, Part C Migrant Education Program.
• Title II, Teacher and Principal Training.
• Title III, English Language Acquisition provides funding to support English Language Learner (ELL) Programs.
• Title IV, Student Support and Academic Enrichment.
• Title IX, Education of Homeless Children and Youth.
• Perkins grant supports Secondary and Postsecondary Career Technical Education.
• Pell Grant is a source of federal funding provided to students to assist with paying tuition for post-secondary education (technical colleges).
• Head Start grant which provides a full-day Pre-Kindergarten program to children of disadvantaged families.
• IDEA Part B, K-12 Entitlement funds are used to supplement the excess costs of providing special education and related services to students with disabilities.

Collier County adds that for the school year 2024-2025, they anticipate federal funding of approximately $86 million.