How Trump’s proposal to cut Department of Education could impact Virginia

A Senate bill introduced on Nov. 21 would abolish the U.S. Department of Education, something President-elect Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail. 

The federal institution is focused on student achievement and equal access to education, according to its website. It is the No. 3 U.S. agency in terms of money spent, behind the Defense and Health and Human Services departments, although most education funding comes from localities and states. 

Trump wants to return education back to the states in an effort to minimize what he considers bloat among government agencies. The role of the federal government is to protect and preservestate and local control over the curriculum, administration, and personnel of their education departments, Trump wrote in a previous executive order. 

The DOE is not even 50 years old; it launched in 1980 after Congress passed legislation to create it. Former President Ronald Reagan proposed ending the department when he took office a few years later. 

The DOE requested over $82 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025. This appropriation has to be approved and includes money for special education services, mental health support, education for homeless children and youth, innovation and improvement, school safety, financial aid assistance and more.

States are also earmarked for funds based on formulas, which includes money allocated for special education, rural and low-income school programs, work study positions, college funding and state grants. 

Virginia ranked No. 10 in 2023 in terms of state funding under “formula-allocated and selected student aid programs” that the DOE administers. The estimated funding for 2025 is over $5 billion, or a 4.3% increase from 2024 estimates, according to DOE numbers. 

Teachers concerned, but uncertain 

The DOE serves many students in many capacities, according to David Walrod, president of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, which also has an alliance with the Fairfax Education Association. The two groups formed the Fairfax Education Unions, which has a reported 27,500 members.

Trump, whose children attended private-school, might not understand exactly how many people benefit from federal education dollars, based on his children’s education experience, Walrod said. 

“I think he just really has no idea what the Department of Education does and why it's so essential for so many people,” Walrod said. 

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has expressed his support of Trump’s education plans during a Virginia Beach visit, according to ABC-13 television news. 

"Quality education is defined at the state level,” Youngkin said on Nov. 11. “We are the ones driving forward excellence in our standards. We are the ones putting in the support for extensive tutoring and to combat chronic absenteeism."

Much of what people do not necessarily like about schools “happens at the state level, not the federal level,” according to Walrod. 

“I think that people will find if the Department of Education shuts down that they're not going to like the idea nearly as much as they thought they did,” he said. 

Teachers are starting to feel concerned, but it is “hard to know how seriously to take Trump’s promises,” according to Walrod. 

“I think that if you actually start seeing signs that he's actually going to do it, then you're definitely gonna see some major lobbying start,” Walrod said. 

Some Virginia districts would be impacted more

Education in Virginia would be impacted if the cabinet-level position was eliminated, Walrod said. The funding loss would affect states and Virginia districts differently. He thinks in Fairfax the effect would be relatively small, because the federal government only provides about 2% of the Fairfax budget. 

“It certainly wouldn't be anybody's idea of a good time to lose that 2%,” Walrod said.“It wouldn't help the education system, but I don't think that would be catastrophic in the way that it would be for states, for districts where the federal government provides closer to 10% or 15%.”

The DOE oversees IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which helps provide free and public education to students with disabilities. 

“If you shut down the department that handles special education law, that has the potential to be devastating for students that have disabilities.” Walrod said.

Students with disabilities likely would continue getting the same education if the DOE was dismantled, according to Walrod. But in other states, “they might not get much of an education.”

There were over 1.26 million students enrolled in Virginia schools last school year. There were 180,891 students with disabilities, an almost 15% increase from enrollment a decade prior, according to VDOE membership tables. 

Head Start is an early childhood education, health and family services program that provides aid to low-income families. Trump has previously proposed reducing its budget, and he could try again once he enters office. 

Carol Bauer is president of the Virginia Education Association, a teachers’ union with a reported 40,000-person membership. The loss of Head Start is a large concern, Bauer previously told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

“Research has shown that those students that participate in Head Start and preschool programs do much better in schools across their whole K-12 experience,” Bauer said. “It makes a difference, not only for the students, but also for the parents, to help them get out of poverty.”

There are 52 Head Start programs throughout the state, according to the Virginia Head Start Association.

Trump picks Secretary of Education

Trump announced Linda McMahon, former president and CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., as his Secretary of Education on Nov. 19. McMahon previously served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. 

Trump’s policy platform, Agenda 47, details the plans and goals of his administration. One goal is to reinstate the 1776 commission, according to the full document.

The 1776 commission was an advisory committee established in Trump’s first term, which focused on providing a “patriotic education” to teach the “truth” about America. 

President Joe Biden terminated the commission his first day in office. The commission was criticized by historians for being full of errors and partisan politics, according to the New York Times. 

Project 2025 is a comprehensive policy list created by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, as a presidential transition blueprint. The 900-plus-page document lists eliminating the DOE and Head Start as goals. 

Trump denied being involved with Project 2025 during his presidential run, despite similarities with his policy proposals but has also recently appointed some of the credited authors to his cabinet, according to the Washington Post.