- The U.S. Department of Education provides funding to California schools, particularly for disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.
- It oversees federal student loans, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the federal Pell Grant.
- Moving the department’s responsibilities, such as overseeing student loans, to another agency would be a complex undertaking.
Reports of President Donald Trump’s plans to defund or abolish the U.S. Department of Education have prompted questions about the department’s role in America.
The department says that education is “primarily a state and local responsibility” in America, and most funding and curricula development come from these levels.
However, the department does provide federal dollars to California, investigate complaints of discrimination involving California schools and students, and oversee federal student loans—loans that many California students take out to afford higher education.
But first, can the Department of Education be eliminated?
While Trump may be unable to abolish the agency by executive order, experts told USA TODAY he might still direct Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon to devise plans to weaken its functions. Shuttering a federal agency requires passing new legislation in Congress, which Trump’s directive could urge lawmakers to do. However, the GOP has a slim majority on Capitol Hill, and galvanizing support for such a controversial measure wouldn’t be easy.
Also, efforts to dismantle the Department of Education are not new, with former President Ronald Reagan among the Republican politicians who have called for its end, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Regardless of what is to come with the department, here are a few ways the Department of Education plays a role in the lives of Californians.
An overview of Department of Education funding for California schools
In America, K-12 education funding is “shared between federal, state and local governments, with state and local governments providing the largest portions,” according to Everything Policy, which researches and publishes information about policy. In California, the state share of funding the K-12 system has “largely hovered around 55% to 60%” since 1990, with the local share usually near 30%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, although the state’s funding share has risen in the past several years.
California’s 2024-25 state budget included a total funding of $133.8 billion — with more than half from the general fund — for all K-12 education programs.
Federal dollars support K-12 education in California, particularly aiding disadvantaged students and students with disabilities. Among the Department of Education’s many roles include distributing funds.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, particularly its Title 1-A program, which authorizes aid to disadvantaged students, is the “primary source of federal aid to elementary and secondary education,” according to a Congressional Research Report. It is the largest pool of funds under ESEA, also known for its most recently reauthorized form, the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The Department of Education determines and allocates Title I funds nationwide to support local educational agencies, such as school districts.
In California, Title I, Part A funds are “used to support effective, evidence-based educational strategies that close the achievement gap” and help students meet the state’s academic standards, according to the California Department of Education. Broadly speaking, these funds help students in high-poverty areas, according to the National Education Association. California received $2.4 billion in Title 1, Part A funds for the 2024-25 fiscal year, according to Scott Roark, a public information officer with the California Department of Education, in an email to The Desert Sun.
The Department of Education also allocates funds to pay the costs of developing and administering state assessments through Title I, Part B, according to the National Education Association. California received $27 million in Title I, Part B funds for the 2024-25 year, according to Roark.
Other federal funding that targets English-language learners and support teachers in California is allocated by the Department of Education, and title funds established through the ESEA.
Also, a Department of Education office administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the “main federal statute governing special education and early intervention services for children with disabilities,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
The primary purpose of IDEA is to ensure that every child with a disability is provided a “free appropriate public education,” and it also supplements state and local funding to pay for additional or excess costs of educating children with disabilities, according to the Congressional Research Service.
California received $1.5 billion in special education funding through IDEA for the fiscal year 2024-25, Roark said.
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Other Department of Education roles: Civil rights enforcement, federal student loans
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforces federal civil rights laws in schools, programs, or any institution that receives money from the Department of Education. It investigates whether, for example, a student has been discriminated against based on race or disability.
The Office for Civil Rights report for fiscal year 2024 said it received its highest volume of complaints ever, 22,687. Among the complaints it received were from California schools. For example, the office investigated a school athletic program within Morgan Hill Unified School District in Santa Clara County over an allegation that it discriminated based on sex, finding disparities between a boy’s baseball program and a girl’s softball program.
As another example, the office “uncovered a systematic failure” on Redlands Unified School District’s part to “investigate or redress sexual assault allegations after they were reported to law enforcement or other state agencies.” The school district is in San Bernardino County.
In addition to the Department of Education’s role in funding and enforcement, the department oversees the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the federal Pell Grant, which is money that helps low-income students pay for college, The News Journal reported.
In 2022-23, 31.7% of undergraduate students were awarded Pell grants in California, according to National Center for Education Statistics data.
Through Dec. 27, 2024, approximately 58% of California high school seniors completed a FAFSA, according to the National College Attainment Network’s FAFSA Tracker for the 2024-25 cycle.
So, does this all just go away?
According to the education-focused Hechinger Report, the “most likely scenario is that Title I money would flow through another federal agency,” and any cuts to Title I would need to go through Congress. Yet that funding “has broad political support.”
Similarly, the Hechinger Report said IDEA itself and the money allotted to it “would not change without an act of Congress.”
But a dismantled or diminished Department of Education “seemingly threatens the strength” of investigations of civil rights complaints or harassment in schools, the News Journal reported.
Karen McCarthy, the vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told USA TODAY that moving the nearly $2 trillion in federal student loans the department oversees—a figure on par with some of the biggest banks—to a different agency such as the Treasury Department, which Republicans have proposed, would be no small feat.
“Nobody could really imagine that Chase could fold into Citibank quickly or easily,” she said. “I don’t know why people are thinking that the federal student loan portfolio could easily move.”
USA TODAY reporters Zachary Schermele and Joey Garrison contributed to this report.
Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@gannett.com.