Operation Education: Future of U.S. Department of Education is uncertain

President Trump is taking historic steps to try to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

It is still not clear what this means for the future of education in the country as the agency offers a variety of services that impact millions of Americans.

Schools and students in our area rely on the U.S. Department of Education for funding and research.

Executive Order

In signing the March 20th executive order, President Trump make it clear he wants the U.S. Department of Education’s main functions to be returned to the states.

The order, titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States and Communities” directs the Secretary of Education to take all steps permitted by law to close the department.

Even prior to that, Linda McMahon had ordered a reduction in force impacting around 50% of the agency's employees.

In a release on March 11th, McMahon called it “the Department of Education’s final mission” and said all divisions with the agency would be impacted.

Both McMahon and President Trump acknowledge that to get rid of the agency legally, Congress would need to act.

Lawmakers take action

On April 9th, three Republican senators, including Senator Jim Banks from Indiana, joined together to introduce a bill to abolish the Department of Education.

Banks and Montana Senator Tim Sheehy are cosponsors of the bill which is sponsored by South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds.

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie introduced a similar bill in January.

There are 34 cosponsors for Massie’s bill including Indiana Representative Victoria Spartz.

After President Trump signed the order, some lawmakers have signaled their support.

Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg said he was on hand as the President signed the order and later told Newsmax, “What we're looking at here is returning the power to the three most important things: the student, the parent, and the teacher."

Walberg, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Education & Workforce said states should compete for quality education.

Indiana Congressman Rudy Yakym said on X, “the Department of Education has failed its mission — spending more while student test scores don’t improve. Putting control back in the hands of states means putting parents back in charge and empowering families, teachers, and communities to create better opportunities for our kids’ futures.”

While politicians argue they want to give states more control, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s own website, education is already primarily a state and local responsibility.

State Control

As of April 14th, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education’s website says, “It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation.”

It says the federal contribution of funds for elementary and secondary education totals only about 8% and includes not only money from the Department of Education, but also from other federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services Head Start program and the Department of Agriculture’s School Lunch Program.

That money is funneled from the federal government and to states to disperse.

While President Trump has said funds won't be cut off and some programs will continue including funding and resources for children with disabilities and special needs, there is still uncertainty about how will all work and the ripple effect the reduction in force could produce.

USDE role

“I hope a plan comes out that's efficient and fluid and can help people make those very important decisions that they need to make,” says Dr. Dan Applegate.

Applegate, a professor at Saint Mary's College in South Bend and the former Niles Community Schools Superintendent has a unique understanding of how the U.S. Department of Education is currently impacting local schools and students.

“The U.S. Department of Education doesn't run any schools. That's left up to state and local control for the most part. However, they do a lot of funding for research and statistics. They collect data and they decide who's eligible, how much money you're going to get,” says Applegate.

Applegate says because the Department of Education has oversight over a large number of federal funds and works to ensure equal access to education, there is a lot of alarm in the education community centered around the uncertainty of what is to come.

The U.S. Department of Education’s website lists the elements of its mission including assure equal access to education and promote education quality through research, evaluation and information-sharing.

“They provide research information for innovative ideas around teaching, and they support a lot of grants for teachers,” says Applegate.

He says, the U.S. Department of Education also provides a level playing field for definitions and data.

For example, states keep track of reading scores and graduation data but the federal reporting standards are different than individual states.

“When you're looking at individual state testing, who sets the cut score? The individual states set the cut score. So, you could say 90% of the students are passing our tests, but what really does that look like nationally,” says Applegate, “the U.S. Department of Education said, we need to know what universal graduation rates are so how they track that is consistent.”

Applegate says this allows the federal taxpayer, journalists, businesses, and families to compare and get a better picture of how schools and states are doing.

“A lot of education is funded through the states in local taxes but when the federal funds come through, you are paying for all over the country. So there has to be some accountability. Which means there has to be a level, a standard, that's consistent, that we can understand. The US Department of Education does offer that opportunity as a measuring stick,” says Applegate.

Applegate says the Department of Education also enforces federal laws related to civil rights and non-discrimination and distributes loans and aid for education.

“That is one of the major functions of the U.S. Department of Education right now -- that funding flow and funding stream,” says Applegate.

He says the oversight and enforcement comes through the funding allocations and audits.

“If you follow the requirements, you get the money. And what most people are saying, is that just really restricts what I can do with the funds. I can do so many things if I had more flexibility. So there's the flexibility that everyone's asking for. But if you stay within those requirements, that's where that accountability comes from,” says Applegate.

Applegate says an example of this is if schools aren’t following Title IX and violate the Office of Civil Rights legislation, they could lose funding.

For the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools much develop programs and supports to receive funding.

Applegate says it is likely Title I funding, which helps support low-income students, and IDEA, which supports special education, won’t go away but he says the biggest concern is whether there will be enough personnel to fulfill those functions.

“The main focus has really been a lot of cuts and personnel cuts and those are the people who provide the oversight. Those are the people who say, yes, you're doing it right or you're not doing right. Those are the same individuals who would accept, like a confidential call about something to say, I believe my rights are violated and I need somebody to investigate that,” says Applegate, “are those personnel going to be there? I don't know. That's yet to be seen -- how deep those cuts are going to be and how much of that's going to be passed onto the states.”

Local impacts

The U.S. Department of Education has a wide range of local impacts.

It’s website says the Department of Education elementary and secondary program annually service nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools.

In an effort to boost literacy and help children in poverty, schools in our area are opening and expanding preschool options.

“I think it's going to be good for families, for kids, for the district, for our community. We're excited,” said Concord Community Schools Superintendent Dan Funston when talking about the district’s decision to offer full-day preschool classes in each of its four elementary schools beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

Concord is paying for the program through the Next Generation School Improvement Grant and On My Way Pre-K program which are both funded with federal dollars.

South Bend Community School Corporation is also expanding its tuition-free preschool options in the 2025-26 school year.

SBCSC is able to offer 19 preschool classes in 14 of its elementary schools thanks to money from the On My Way Pre-K program.

Federal dollars also support the schools in our area that provide free breakfast and lunch to children.

More school districts throughout the U.S. now qualify for the National School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program including School City of Mishawaka.

School districts qualify based on a percentage of families and students in the district that are in “high poverty.”

"They need that nutrition to be able to study, to be able to concentrate on their schoolwork," said School City of Mishawaka Food Service Director Linda Cupp in August of 2024.

The data for those programs is collected by the federal government and funds are distributed based on that data.

South Bend Community School Corporation and other districts receive and spend millions of federal dollars annually to support teachers, build up classrooms, and help teach students who have the greatest need whether it is because they live in poverty, are English learners, or special education.

At a January 23rd, 2025 school board meeting, Tonia Brewer, the SBCSC Executive Director of Exceptional learners reported the total number of students with Individual Education Plans was 3,350 accounting for approximately 20% of the total SBCSC enrollment.

Every year, millions of students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid hoping to get help paying for college.

It is the U.S. Department of Education that processes the FAFSA and determines students eligibility for grants, work study and loans.

The current U.S. Department of Education leadership insists the agency will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.