What IW, Surry schools can expect if the Department of Education is ‘dismantled’ – Smithfield Times

President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education could have a wide range of impacts on Isle of Wight and Surry county schools.

The Times consulted a trio of university professors with expertise in education and local government, as well as officials at both school systems, for a closer look at what changes could be in store if the 1979-founded USDOE comes to an end.

Trump issued an executive order on March 20 directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to, “to the maximum extent permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” A day later, nearly 50% of the agency’s 4,133 employees were placed on administrative leave per a “reduction in force” McMahon had announced on March 11.

Isle of Wight and Surry school officials are watching with interest as a lawsuit brought by two Massachusetts school districts and the American Federation of Teachers challenging Trump’s order and the related mass layoff plays out.

On May 22, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun granted an injunction blocking the terminations and Trump’s order from taking effect, finding McMahon to have “admitted that the terminations were intended to dismantle the Department.”

The Trump administration appealed the injunction on June 6 to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on that specific case but in a 6-3 decision on June 27 ruled that district courts lacked authority to issue a “universal injunction,” setting a much higher bar for judges to stop nationwide enforcement of an executive order.

What ‘dismantling’ could look like

“It’s possible that not much will change, at least overnight. The actual shuttering of the Department of Education would require action from Congress, and that may take some time – if it happens at all,” said Richard Meagher, who chairs the political science department at Randolph-Macon College. “Even if Congress agreed to close the department tomorrow, many of the programs that the department runs are authorized by specific legislation and would continue, probably reorganized to live under a different federal agency.”

Trump said in a March broadcast from the White House that the Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler, would take over administering student loans, while “special needs,” a possible reference to special education and the enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, would move to the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

Meagher said it isn’t clear yet whether the Supreme Court’s June 27 ruling will impact the injunction on the order to dismantle the USDOE.

“It also depends on how you define ‘dismantling,’” said Jonathan Becker, an associate professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, who said one possibility is to “keep the department in name” but “move other services around.”

Citing statistics from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or Nation’s Report Card, showing 70% of eighth-graders nationwide scored below proficiency in reading and 72% scored below proficiency in math, Trump’s order directs McMahon to “return authority over education to the states and local communities” to allow “families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.” But Becker and Kimberly Bridges, another associate professor of education at VCU, say authority over curriculum already rests solely with individual states, and not the USDOE.

“That’s not changing,” Bridges said. What could change is who is responsible for “the federal support … resources, guidance, enforcement of civil rights protections, accountability. Those are the things that the federal Department of Education is responsible for.”

For example, the enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which bars discrimination in educational programs and sports on the basis of sex, currently falls under the purview of the USDOE. In 2024, the administration of former President Joe Biden announced it had finalized a Title IX rule stating discrimination based on sex included gender identity, but a federal judge in Kentucky overturned it Jan. 9.

“The challenge will be for those whose job is to enforce Title IX and the state … to figure out what their guidance is as they enforce those needs,” Becker said.

The USDOE also has its own Office for Civil Rights.

“If you follow Project 2025, that office would move into the Department of Justice,” Becker said, referring to the 900-plus-page blueprint authored by the pro-Trump Heritage Foundation in 2023. 

Though Trump denied affiliation with Project 2025 during his campaign, the document mirrors Trump’s words, stating IDEA funding currently administered through USDOE should be “distributed directly to local education agencies by Health and Human Services,” its Office for Civil Rights “should be moved to the Department of Justice,”  and “ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.”

If the entire Office for Civil Rights moved from the USDOE to the DOJ, that would suggest no change in its capacity to investigate complaints, but given “what we’re seeing in terms of downsizing,” it could become “harder for people to fight for their rights through the federal government,” Becker said.

Federal funding impacts

Bridges said closing the Department of Education could affect the federal funding Isle of Wight and Surry schools receive.

Isle of Wight County Schools, which had just over 5,500 students at the start of the last school year, expects $5 million, or 5%, of its $100 million budget for the 2025-26 school year to come from federal funds. Surry County Public Schools, which at just under 700 students has a much smaller enrollment, expects federal funds to account for $1.2 million, or 6%, of its roughly $19 million budget.

“Though for both school divisions, federal funding is a small piece of the overall pie, it’s a really important piece because of how it’s targeted to economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities. It also supports English learners,” Bridges said.

According to Virginia Department of Education data, English learners account for just over 1% of the divisionwide enrollment at both school systems.

Isle of Wight’s share of federal money includes $2.4 million in Title Grant funding, another $2.1 million for food services and $485,000 in Isle of Wight’s general fund. Only the Title Grants are funded by USDOE, according to IWCS Finance Director Liesl DeVary.

Title Grants are tied to Titles I through IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act while Title VI is tied to IDEA.

DeVary said the $2.1 million in food services comes from the National School Breakfast & Lunch Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The $485,000 includes the Impact Aid Program, which assists schools that have lost local tax revenue from the presence of tax-exempt federal property or have gained expenses due to the enrollment of federally connected children; Medicaid cost recovery, which reimburses schools for medical services for Medicaid-enrolled students; the E-Rate Program, which helps schools obtain high-speed internet; and Smithfield High School’s Junior ROTC program – none of which are funded by USDOE, DeVary said.

“Of the federal funding that comes to states and comes to localities, Title I is the biggest, and that is intended to support students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” Bridges said. “IDEA funding is the next biggest pot of money, and that’s specifically supporting students with disabilities.”

“We are closely monitoring the situation regarding the proposed closure of the U.S. Department of Education and the ongoing legal challenges. Our primary concern at this time is the potential impact on federal funding for our schools. These funds support critical programs, including special education and Title programs,” said IWCS spokeswoman Lynn Briggs. “While there has been some discussion about shifting oversight and funding responsibilities to the states, there is still significant uncertainty around how that would be implemented and whether funding levels would remain consistent. We will continue to follow developments carefully to ensure we can advocate for the needs of our students and staff.”

Title I supplements state and local funding for schools with at least 40% of their student population from low-income households. Isle of Wight has three Title I schools: Hardy Elementary, Windsor Elementary and Carrsville Elementary. According to VDOE data, just over 32% of Isle of Wight students as of the last school year came from economically disadvantaged households. In Surry, which only has three schools, the divisionwide percentage is higher, at just over 45%.

Title I funding can be used to hire additional classroom teachers or reading and math specialists, Bridges said.

Even before the change in presidential administrations, Isle of Wight was seeing a decline in Title I funding.

IWCS Superintendent Theo Cramer’s February budget draft had estimated Isle of Wight would receive $782,734 in Title I funding for 2025-26, a 5%, or $32,805, reduction from the 2024-25 school year. Last year’s $815,539 in Title I funding was itself a 24% drop from just over $1 million IWCS received for the 2023-24 school year.

Deputy Superintendent Susan Goetz said in March that the Title I reductions as of that date were tied to the 2020 Census, which showed increases both in population and in the median household income in Isle of Wight over the prior decade. Hardy is now “borderline” for Title I status, Goetz said, due to the School Board’s 2023 decision to move 75 students from Carrollton Elementary to Hardy to free up classroom space at Carrollton.

Isle of Wight’s reduction in federal funding resulted in two reading specialists, collectively budgeted at $220,000 and formerly funded through Title I, becoming locally-funded positions.

At Surry, there are two special education teacher positions, three instructional assistant positions and a partially-funded administrative assistant funded through USDOE Title Grants, according to SCPS Finance Director Melissa Harvey.