@EDSecMcMahon doesn’t care about or understand the complexities of funding education in the country. She gets her marching orders from the billionaires with Project 2025… or else…
The Department of Education (ED) does not run schools. It cannot mandate local curricula – states and districts control what students learn. It provides billions of dollars each year to states, school districts, colleges and students. Major funding includes:
– Pell Grants (for low-income college students)
– Federal student loans
– Title I funding for low-income K–12 schools
– Special education funding (IDEA)
– Grants for literacy, teacher development and career education
It ensures states and schools follow federal laws that protect students, such as:
– Title IX (prohibits sex discrimination)
– Title VI (prohibits racial discrimination)
– IDEA (rights of students with disabilities)
– FERPA (student privacy)
Through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), ED collects nationwide data on:
– Student achievement
– Graduation rates
– School performance
– College costs
– Civil-rights statistics
ED oversees Federal student loans:
– Loan servicing
– Loan repayment rules
– Loan forgiveness programs (Public Service Loan Forgiveness, teacher forgiveness, etc.)
– FAFSA (the student aid application)
ED funds programs for:
– Teacher training
– School improvement
– Charter schools
– Vocational and technical education
– Rural, tribal and bilingual programs
Trump and his regime through Project 2025 want to seek to shift funding toward school choice, vouchers, private/religious schooling and away from traditional public schools. If the Department of Education were abolished or its role very strongly curtailed, states would assume much greater responsibility and local disparities or resource gaps could widen.
Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia and New Mexico rely on Title I funds for poor districts and IDEA funds for special education. Without federal support, many districts could not meet legal obligations for disabled students.
Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota already operate on thin budgets and depend heavily on federal grants. If ED goes away, many rural schools would cut programs or consolidate.
IDEA (special education law) is enforced and funded by ED.
Without ED:
– Federal enforcement disappears
– States must cover 100% of special-education costs
– Services like speech therapy, occupational therapy, one-on-one aides, IEP enforcement fall apart
If ED is abolished:
– Federal investigations vanish
– States with poor histories of compliance would see widening disparities
– Students lose the ability to file federal complaints
Millions of college students in every state would lose aid, especially in lower-income states like Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana and New Mexico, where Pell participation is extremely high.
If the Department of Education vanishes, states have to:
– Rewrite thousands of pages of regulations
– Assume enforcement roles
– Negotiate standards with colleges
– Create new accountability systems
– Fund programs themselves
This tragic and thoughtless transition would cost states hundreds of millions and confuse school districts for years.
These states reliably pay far more in federal taxes than they receive back in federal spending:
1. New Jersey
2. Massachusetts
3. Connecticut
4. New York
5. California
6. Illinois
7. Washington
8. Colorado
9. Minnesota
10. Delaware
These states carry the biggest net burden of federal taxation. They subsidize federal programs that disproportionately benefit rural, low-income and military-heavy states.
These states consistently receive much more per capita than they contribute:
1. Kentucky
2. Mississippi
3. West Virginia
4. Alabama
5. Arkansas
6. Louisiana
7. South Carolina
8. Montana
9. South Dakota
10. Alaska
These states rely heavily on federal support because of lower incomes, poverty rates, rural populations, and higher dependence on federal services.
If the Department of Education is dissolved, these states would be truly hurt and not be able to fund their educational needs.