Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
- The U.S. Department of Education faces a potential dismantling after laying off half its workforce Tuesday.
- Many Utah schools rely on federal funding, impacting Title I and special education programs.
- Opinions differ on state vs. federal control and implications for vulnerable students, plus federal grants remain uncertain.
SALT LAKE CITY — A shadow was cast over the U.S. Department of Education after Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Tuesday announced the firing of nearly half of the department's federal workforce — bringing the total from 4,133 workers to roughly 2,183.
The latest moves come amid repeated vows from President Donald Trump to eliminate the department in its entirety.
The department's main role is financial, distributing billions in federal money to colleges and schools and managing the federal student loan portfolio. Closing the department would mean redistributing each of those duties to another agency. The department also plays an important regulatory role in student services, ranging from those with disabilities to low-income and homeless students.
But what would the dismantling of the department mean for Utah?
K-12 impacts
In the Beehive State, funding for schools mainly comes from state income tax and property tax revenue. Currently, the income tax revenue can only be used to fund education and some social services, according to the Utah Constitution.
Still, the state gets anywhere between 9% and 11% of its budget from federal funding for a total of just under $1 billion annually.
"The things that could be impacted (by closing the department) that come from that funding are things like Title I schools. That can have a huge impact because it's money to feed kids, mental health wraparound services that we offer at those Title 1 schools," said Utah State Board of Education member Sarah Reale.
And 41% of Utah's schools fall under the Title I umbrella.
Reale, an adjunct professor and director of digital marketing and student experience at Salt Lake Community College, added that federal funding is also crucial to special education in the state.
"A lot of the programs and things that we do are federally funded within special education, so that would take a huge hit," said Reale, a Democrat.
But other board members don't share in Reale's concerns.
Cole Kelley, a board member and current teacher at American Fork High School, said his reaction to the Trump administration toying with the idea of shutting down the department is that such action is "overdue."
"I think that education is a state issue and I think that the federal government ... back in 1980 kind of poked their nose into education ... with a bit of overreach from the federal government," said Kelley, a Republican. "I like the idea of returning that back to the states and making education, once again, a local issue and a state issue."
Reale, however, is more hesitant about education being run at a state level.
"I am concerned about that deeply because we aren't seeing a lot of support from state governments, nationwide, in public education," Reale said. "We can see that through all of the voucher bills that have been passed in a variety of states and that number is growing."
The Utah Fits All voucher program was established in 2023 from HB215 and provides $8,000 scholarships to qualifying families for private schools and other private education options.
"When we have these policies, they take away from equal access to quality public education for all and that especially impacts low income students. So, leaving all of the education management up to the states could have a huge impact on the most vulnerable of our students," Reale said.
But Kelley sees a potential dissolving of the education department as an important piece of reducing spending across federal agencies. He's also optimistic it wouldn't impact funding for vulnerable students.
"There's no way of knowing this for sure but I don't think that you will see the Trump administration get rid of the Department of Education and then just completely cut all funding off," Kelley said. "You certainly have programs — Title I, Title IX — where federal funds help to support those federal mandates and so, I would anticipate that you would still see some of that funding come through and the states would still be provided with some of that funding."
Higher education impacts
More so than public K-12 schools, colleges and universities are reliant on federal funding through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.
More specifically, the department manages approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for over 40 million borrowers. It also oversees the Pell Grant, which provides aid to students below a certain income threshold and administers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which universities use to allocate financial aid.
"How that will change funding for college students that are applying through FAFSA for federal grants and student loans is a question mark. I'm not going to pretend that I'm going to know how that void would be filled," Kelley said. "There's certainly things that if, you know, the federal department of education were to be eliminated, that we would have to find ways as a state to fill some of those gaps."
Reale sees the impacts that will be most detrimental to higher education being less obvious than student loans and civil rights.
"Those include staffing support at the federal level, research and data gathering for a nationwide view of our students to help us understand trends, gaps, funding coming from grants and programs that give funding to institutions and general management and accreditation, that keeps our institutions reliable and accountable. These smaller cuts, which are seeming more likely, would greatly impact our higher education system nationwide," she said.
While the department has yet to be completely dismantled, Reale and Kelley are split on exactly what that would mean for Utah's education system.
"I think that it's important to have a Department of Education at the federal level because it allows all of the states to be partially unified in the way that we're doing our work and the way that we're educating students. It's important that we're at least aligned on some values and policies so that as a nation, we can grow in education and not leave it up to the states, purely. That means that some states will do great and some states won't." Reale said, noting that she loves states' rights and federalism.
"The Department of Education is a good balance of having a unifier in government while still giving so much flexibility to the states to be able to run their systems how they'd like," she said.
At the same time, Kelley thinks there's a way to balance what has been happening with federal programs with what Utah can do as a state.
"I think, you know, on a local level, we can do it better. On a state level, we can do it better and we can eliminate a lot of the bureaucracy," Kelley said. "I feel confident that Utah can definitely pick up the slack there."
