When President Donald Trump started talking months ago about eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, questions quickly arose about how K-12 students might be affected by that attempt.
Trump signed an executive order March 20 calling for his administration to close the department — all a part of Trump’s larger effort to cut costs and shrink the scope of the federal government.
Trump can’t close the Department of Education on his own — Congress would need to vote on whether or not to do so. But the administration can make some changes to how the department is run. The president’s argument has been that states should have more power in determining how they educate their students. Trump has also been especially concerned with rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that he says contribute to discrimination in American schools.
State and local governments already control most aspects of public K-12 education.
It will take some time before the full impact of these attempts at changing or eliminating the department will be known.
The federal funding schools are receiving for this school year was determined by the last budget Congress passed, so school divisions are unlikely to see major changes this spring.
For now, here are some basics of federal K-12 education funding and programs, with some examples of how those programs impact local school divisions.
1. Most money for K-12 schools comes from state and local resources, not the federal government.
Only about 10% of K-12 funding comes from the federal government, though that can vary from state to state and even among school divisions within a single state.
Nationwide, that amounted to about $2,500 per child in 2021-2022, and about $2,000 per child in Virginia. Those amounts were higher than usual due to pandemic relief funding. For 2019-2020, federal funding totaled about $1,300 per student, and about $1,000 each in Virginia.
Take a look at federal funding for two school divisions in our region that are quite different.
Roanoke has about 13,800 students across 24 schools, while Pittsylvania County has about 7,800 in 18 schools.
Pittsylvania County has fewer students, but a much larger division geographically: 22 times larger, in fact.
But they each get about the same percentage of their budgets from federal funding: 11% for Pittsylvania County and 9% for Roanoke.
2. Funding for K-12 schools won’t end if the U.S. Department of Education closes.
Federal funding that goes to K-12 schools exists because of specific laws. In order to end those funding programs, Congress would have to vote to change those laws.
The Trump administration has said that its attempts to close the education department won’t shut off existing funding.
“We will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers, and others who rely on essential programs,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement on March 20. “We’re going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition.”
3. Virginia already has a role in managing the money for federal education funding.
The state disburses federal funding to school divisions and makes sure that school divisions comply with the guidelines for using the money.
Virginia can reserve a small portion of federal funding to go toward administering these programs, but “95% of the money more or less flows down to school districts,” said Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed. The national nonprofit advocates for educational policies at the federal, state and local levels that benefit students of color and students from low-income families, among other groups.
It’s not clear yet what additional responsibilities states may need to take on in order to keep those federal funds flowing to schools if the federal education department shuts down or its role significantly shrinks.
“Virginia is ready to take full responsibility for K-12 education,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement on March 20.
Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, who chairs Virginia’s House of Delegates education committee, said it’s not clear yet what the federal changes will mean for how the state manages education, but he expects legislators to discuss their role in the coming months.
Rasoul said he’s concerned about the Trump administration gutting the federal Education Department. “We already ask our schools to do so much,” he said, including addressing basic needs such as nutrition and physical and mental health care services.
The recent departure of state Superintendent Lisa Coons, the second person to hold that role since Youngkin took office, adds to concerns about the state education system’s ability to adapt to changes at the federal level, he said. “All we hear about” is administration infighting that blocks the department’s ability to serve the state’s educational needs, Rasoul said.
The Virginia Department of Education communications office did not respond to an email Monday asking how it would accommodate additional duties that might need to be absorbed by the state. The office has not listed a successor to department spokesperson Todd Reid, who left the position in early March.
4. Most of the federal funding you hear about goes toward educating students from low-income households.
The biggest pool of federal funding for K-12 schools comes from Title I, which puts money toward educating students from low-income households. Ninety percent of school districts across the country get some Title I funding. The biggest chunk of Title I funding comes from what’s known as Part A.
The Department of Education uses census data to determine which schools are eligible and how much money they get, with areas with more pronounced poverty receiving more. It’s supplemental funding, meaning it can’t be used to replace state or local funding — only to add on top of it.
In Roanoke, 15 elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school receive Title I funding, totaling about $8.2 million for 2024-2025. Title I-A funding goes toward reading and math resource teaching positions, said spokesperson Claire Mitzel. It also pays for some instructional materials and pays teachers to stay after school to conduct tutoring sessions.
In Pittsylvania County, nine elementary schools and three middle schools receive Title I-A funding. The approximately $2.3 million for 2024-2025 covers salaries and benefits for 27 employees, said Jenny Eaton, director of Title I and middle school education for the division, including resource teachers such as reading specialists.
School divisions have to spend money from Part A of Title I in the schools that have the largest numbers of low-income students, but once there, the money goes toward educating the entire student body of that school, not just a certain group of students. Other Title I funding, such as Part C to support children with migrant worker families and Part D to support students in the juvenile justice system, can be used division-wide, not just in a particular school.
But beyond that, “There are just a few limitations on how a fund is going to be spent,” Hyslop said, as long as it supports student achievement.
5. Additional title grants support teacher training, student support and rural schools.
Beyond Title I, a variety of smaller grant programs provide additional support to school divisions.
Title II, for example, is the second-biggest fund in the title programs, and goes toward professional development for educators.
“A few years ago, we used Title II funds to develop a cohort of staff to pursue graduate work to become reading specialists because we had a shortage in that area,” Mitzel said of how Roanoke uses the money. Currently, the division is developing a similar group of prospective administrators “to build our pool of next-generation assistant principals and principals,” she said.
Roanoke also uses some of this funding to help provisionally licensed teachers pay for coursework and testing they need to become fully licensed by the state. The division got about $300,000 for 2024-2025.
Roanoke also gets money for Title III, which is focused on students learning the English language. The division uses it toward teacher training materials, family engagement programs and to pay teachers to tutor English language students after school.
Title IV funds go toward student support and enrichment to fund mentoring programs in city schools and to pay for community college dual enrollment classes and Advanced Placement tests for students who might not be able to afford them, Mitzel said.
Thirty school divisions in Virginia receive funding because of their rural locations and concentration of low-income students. This money, which falls under Title V funding, added up to less than $2.4 million for the 2024-2025 school year, but some school divisions receive a significant chunk of that. Danville, Tazewell County and Wise County each received about $200,000, for example, while Mecklenburg County and Smyth County each received about $140,000. The funds can be used toward a variety of expenses such as teacher salaries, educator professional development and teaching materials.
6. Special education accommodations are still protected by law.
Individualized Education Programs (often called IEPs), which provide accommodations for students with disabilities, are regulated by part of a law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA funding is the second largest K-12 federal program after Title I.
For a school division, this funding helps pay for staffing that assists students with their needs. Roanoke city schools said it gets about $4 million for students with disabilities, which helps pay for behavioral specialists, instructional assistants and toward instructional materials.
In Pittsylvania County, Director of Special Education Katie Hawker said the funding goes toward staffers who provide specialized instruction, support services and accommodations for eligible students.
The federal Department of Education makes sure states are complying with IDEA. In 2024, a federal investigation that had begun in 2019 found that Virginia’s Department of Education was out of compliance with the law. According to the federal Office of Special Education Programs, Virginia’s education department wasn’t resolving complaints parents filed about their children’s special education plans and that it wasn’t following some confidentiality guidelines.
The department has since remedied the issues.
7. The U.S. Department of Education doesn’t run school meal programs. The Department of Agriculture does that.
The Trump administration has canceled some U.S. Department of Agriculture grants tied to school meals, including Local Food for Schools, a pandemic-era program that gave some schools and food banks money to purchase from local farms. But overall, broader cuts to school nutrition programs have not been announced.
In Roanoke, the largest area of federal funding is for providing meals to students. That approximately $11 million is crucial for making breakfast and lunch available to every student in the division, Mitzel said. Roanoke has universal free meal eligibility under a federal eligibility provision, which means families don’t have to fill out an application disclosing their financial situation.
Ninety of Virginia’s 131 school divisions have this federal provision for 2024-2025 to provide free meals to students in all their schools. Another 28 divisions provide free meals to all students in select schools under the same provision.
The state also provides some funding to cover the costs of providing school meals.
8. Department of Education layoffs will likely slow civil rights complaint investigations.
The Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education enforces federal civil rights laws. These laws prohibit discrimination in places in educational settings that receive federal funding, including discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability and age.
OCR investigates complaints made about schools that haven’t been resolved by school administration. Mitzel in Roanoke said that along with providing resolution assistance related to investigations, the office also offers compliance guidance and training for complying with federal laws that protect student privacy.
Along with enforcing the IDEA law, the office’s enforcement includes Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which ensures that students with disabilities have equal access to public education. Under what’s often referred to as a 504 plan, a student may receive accommodations such as extra time for taking tests, access to learning tools, or seating near the front of the classroom.
Both IEPs and 504 plans are free for students. Schools don’t get federal funding to help them provide 504 plan accommodations, but they do for IEPs under the IDEA law.
In March, nearly half of OCR staff was cut when the department of education announced a large-scale reduction in force. This reduction could impact how quickly complaints are investigated, or whether they will be investigated at all. The Trump administration ordered its own inquiries for OCR to pursue after a monthlong freeze on investigations ordered in January, whereas previously investigations were directed primarily by complaints made by students or their families.
Two hundred K-12 discrimination complaints were opened between mid-December 2024 and mid-January 2025. Ten of those complaints were filed about Virginia school divisions.
The federal database showing all open complaints has not been updated since Trump was inaugurated.
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court to try to block the mass layoff of OCR employees.
Attorneys general in 20 states and Washington, D.C., have also sued to try to stop layoffs across the Department of Education. Virginia’s Office of the Attorney General is not one of the plaintiffs in that case, which was filed in a Massachusetts district court.
9. The U.S. Department of Education does not control public school curriculum.
The federal government does not control curriculum in public schools and, in fact, is explicitly prohibited from doing so under the law, said Hyslop.
“All that is coming from the state or the school district,” she said.
Virginia’s Department of Education sets standards for subjects ranging from math and science to fine arts, health education, computer science and even driver education.
It’s a similar situation when it comes to federal funding. Virginia school divisions must tell the federal department of education how it intends to use funding in line with the goals of each grant program, “But federal law isn’t specifying one kind of approach or one strategy,” Hyslop said.
