The Trump administration is preparing an executive order to reduce or abolish the Department of Education. While this may overhaul national educational policy, K-12 and post-secondary students in North Carolina will experience few direct repercussions.
The department faces perennial criticism from Republican politicians, who argue that it introduces needless bureaucracy to educational systems. Still, bipartisan backing for the programs it administers, including Title I grants and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, has sustained the controversial department through eight presidential administrations since its founding. This streak may end with Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
The effects on funding
Contrary to popular belief, the Department of Education has little power to shape curriculum; states set their educational standards. The department’s primary responsibilities include collecting financial and academic achievement information from educational institutions, protecting students from discrimination and overseeing student aid programs such as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Pell Grants and Federal Work-Studies.
9% of Wake Forest students receive Pell Grants, which are federal funds earmarked for low-income students, while 16% receive federal loans. Delivery of this aid may be delayed if the Department of Education undergoes significant change, a situation that echoes the well-publicized glitches that impeded the rollout of the updated FAFSA last year.
In addition, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which are already undergoing organizational shifts as a result of the Trump administration’s campaign against DEI programs, tend to draw more federal funding than Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs).
HBCUs may subsequently be affected more substantially by delays or terminations of federal funding.
Winston-Salem State University, for instance, received $35.6 million from the federal government over the past 12 months, of which $28.43 million came directly from the Department of Education. Wake Forest University, in comparison, received $6.1 million. The Department of Health and Human Services was the primary allocator of grants to Wake Forest, which applied the vast majority of these funds to the School of Medicine.
Another common misconception is that public school districts rely primarily on federal funding. While the Department of Education did award Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools $4.4 million this past year, such backing constitutes only a fraction of the district’s total budget, which measured around $582 million in the 2020-2021 school year. The state of North Carolina provides about 62% of this money, with Forsyth County supplying another 27%. School districts around the state and country operate under similar funding schemes.
More common is direct federal funding through Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which supplies additional financial support to schools that enroll 40% or more of their students from low-income backgrounds. 55 of the 81 schools in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County are Title I institutions.
Effects beyond funding
The new administration has also taken steps to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) informed programs and end support for transgender students in favor of “patriotic” education. Trump recently stated that he asked Linda McMahon, his nominee for education secretary, to “put herself out of a job.”
The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is spearheading efforts to dissolve the Education Department, which is congressionally funded. DOGE is a government organization, not an executive department like the Department of Education and, thus, Congress does not oversee it. However, DOGE’s exact aims and intended methods for doing so remain unclear.
A man who said he was a federal employee but who was not identified by name barred Democratic House members from accessing the Education Department building on Feb. 8. When criticized online by the lawmakers, Elon Musk, leader of DOGE and close ally to Trump, stated that “no such [education] department exists in the federal government.”
Trump’s recent series of executive orders has also affected educational initiatives beyond the reach of the Department of Education. Head Start, a comprehensive intervention program for low-income children that is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, was unable to access grants during the short-lived freeze on federal spending. Many Head Start centers that relied on weekly federal payments laid off employees or shuttered completely. The freeze also disrupted the flow of discretionary grants to researchers at universities across the country.
The Education Department cannot legally be dismantled without congressional action. However, Trump may seek to slash programs not required by law and reassign mandatory initiatives to other departments. Dozens of workers at the Education Department, which employs around 4,000 people in total, have already been placed on leave or had their contracts terminated.
It is unlikely that changes to the Department of Education will directly impact Wake Forest students. However, especially when considering low-income families involved with Head Start, Title I and similar programs, it is clear that Winston-Salem will not be immune to upheaval in Washington.
