State Power to Protect Public Schools

State Power to Protect Public Schools

Education access is directly tied to economic and political power, which is why universal public education was never given to us – it was hard fought, and incredibly popular. But for decades we’ve faced a multi-pronged, coordinated, and well-funded state-by-state effort to privatize public schools. Now, those ongoing threats are compounded by extremists in the federal government eliminating programs critical to student success in school and life in order to give tax breaks to the rich. 

Over the past two months, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America by dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for billionaires. They have issued reckless, destructive, and even illegal directives to destabilize public schools and target some of our most vulnerable students. They include executive orders to eliminate the Department of Education, mass layoffs, blocking DEI initiatives, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on public schools, former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon as education secretary, Musk & DOGE’s hostile takeover, congressional action, and a pending supreme court ruling– states have an essential role to protect the freedom to learn for all students. Below are resources to understand the impacts of these actions and how to act. 

Content summarized from our public education briefing as part of our bi-weekly federal rapid response series. Legislators and legislative staff can register here for this ongoing series.

Who is impacted if the Department of Education is eliminated?

Established in 1980 by Congress, the department is intended to collect data and research on schooling and education, direct supportive funds to targeted communities, and investigate and enforce civil rights anti-discrimination law. It's the smallest Cabinet-level department, with less than 5,000 employees.

According to the Education Data Initiative, the federal government provides 13.6% of funding for public K-12 education. That number varies state-by-state, find state data here and check out the Education Law Center’s Trump 2.0 Federal Revenue Tool. 

Both the National Education Association and the Century Foundation offer an overview of who is impacted if the Department of Education is eliminated: 

• One of the Department of Education’s core responsibilities is to administer programs created by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, under which 7.5 million disabled students—roughly, 15 percent of the student population—have received individualized education services, including  pre-employment transition services, special education support services, and much more. While the Trump administration cannot scrap IDEA or its funding without Congressional approval, it could attempt to move the administration of IDEA over to another government agency.
• The largest K–12 program run through the U.S. Department of Education is Title I, which provides funding to schools that enroll high percentages of low-income students. Nearly two-thirds of all public schools receive Title I funding. These federal funds ensure that schools have extra supports—more teachers, money for supplies, access to better curriculum, behavioral and mental health programs, and more—to help low-income children succeed and help make up for the gaps between rich and poor school districts. According to the Center for American Progress, 2.8 million students benefit from this program. Find a state-by-state breakdown here.
• The Department of Education plays a key role in enforcing civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on race or national origin, immigration status, sex, disability, and religion through the work of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR investigates individual complaints, such as when a child is denied access to special education services outlined in their Individualized Education Plan, as well as complaints seeking to protect groups of students, such as when Black students are receiving harsher discipline than white students for the same offenses. 
• The Department of Education also operates dozens of discretionary grant programs. Public schools across the country depend on these grants to fund a host of different educational supports, including investments in early literacy, academic acceleration, enrichment programs, and teacher development. In addition, federal grants support investments to upgrade school technology, to start community schools that offer health services and more, and to run before- and after-school programs that benefit students and working families. They also expand school choice by funding the growth and creation of magnet schools and charter schools.
• For rural communities dismantling the Department of Education would severely harm rural students by cutting crucial federal funding for low-income and special education programs, worsening teacher shortages, and reducing access to student aid. Without federal oversight, education quality could become inconsistent, leaving rural schools with even fewer resources and lower standards. Programs that provide free meals, after-school care, and broadband access would also be at risk, widening the gap between rural and urban students. This would deepen inequities and limit opportunities for rural students, making education less accessible and effective.
• Disrupting student loan infrastructure could barrel the nation toward higher rates of student loan default. By dollars and cents, student loan debt is the federal government’s largest financial asset. The Department of Education manages that $1.6 trillion asset: it not only disburses student loans, but also provides vital information to borrowers, investigates fraud and abuse in federal student aid programs, and manages servicers.

The Department of Education employees are experts in education; their work serves our public school students in every community in every corner of this country. They are researchers who develop best practices for engaging students with disabilities and lawyers who protect students’ civil rights no matter their skin color or gender. The Department of Education employees also process student loan forms so students can attend college or career training programs. These are students who may otherwise not have the means to extend their education and reach their full potential. The Department of Education employees are experts in the field of education who have a singular purpose and commitment to our students and their well-being. The Trump Administration's actions are gutting education and destabilizing schools in neighborhoods around the nation.

Messaging Guidance

Though our opposition paints our fights as “left versus right,” we know this is actually about folks on the bottom versus the very top. Public education is an issue that unites working families, no matter what we look like, where we’re from, where we live, or who we love. So how do we talk about it? From Navigator Research: When communicating these sweeping executive actions, it’s essential that messengers clearly outline the human impacts of the Trump Administration’s latest moves to cut programs that benefit all Americans to enrich billionaires. Focus on the true victims of this decision - students, teachers, and parents. This move will impact the success of students and schools nationwide to make room for tax cuts that benefit the few. 

With their consent, share real-life impact stories of students and families in your district. Here’s a few from the National Education Association:

• An educator in Georgia who worked with students with disabilities, helping them in their transition out of high school. She lost her job because federal funding was cut and her students now are left without this critical support.
• A former Teacher of the Year in Kansas who teaches special education has talked about the risk Kansas faces, losing 4,000 educator jobs if they gut the Department of Education. More than 81,000 students receive services under IDEA in Kansas.
• An educator in California told me that her students are worried about how to take care of their siblings if their parents get deported. Trump’s comments on deporting all immigrants have students fearing for their safety.
• A high school teacher in rural Ohio said she has students who read at a middle school level, and she worries they won’t be able to read at a necessary level as adults. Less federal funding means less individualized help for students.

Many believe the elimination of the Department of Education will lead to federal block grants for federal dollars. But why are block grants so dangerous?

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities details the threat of federal block grants. Block grants are fixed pots of money that the federal government gives to states to provide benefits or services. Block grant funding levels typically are fixed; this contrasts with an entitlement structure, in which anyone who is eligible for benefits or services can receive them and funding increases automatically and immediately to respond to increased need due to economic downturns, natural disasters, or higher-than-expected costs (such as when a new drug or procedure increases health care costs). Block-granting these programs would strip away the federal commitment to help vulnerable individuals and families who are eligible for these programs when they need them. Fixed annual funding would render the programs unable to automatically respond to increased need, as they do today. As need increases, states would have to cut eligibility or benefits or establish waiting lists to stay within capped funding. When it comes to public education, federal block grants would lead to an unprecedented expansion of vouchers and the privatization of public schools. 

Resources on vouchers: 

• Public Funds, Public Schools Research Hub, Education Law Center
• Questions Every Legislator Should Ask About School Vouchers, Education Trust 
• State & National Bill Tracker, Public Funds, Public Schools  
• Who Really Benefits from School Vouchers, Education Trust 
• The True Costs of Private School Voucher Programs, Education Law Center 

Understanding the Racist History of Defunding Public Education

There’s a reason why our opponents are banning history and DEI. Defunding and privatization of public schools has its roots in racism and segregation. After the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board decision, school vouchers were used as a tool for perpetuating segregation the Court had ruled unconstitutional. Southern policymakers passed laws setting up tuition voucher or grant programs closing down public school systems altogether, rather than desegregate. Today, vouchers still promote segregation and discrimination by funneling public funds to private schools, which are often more racially segregated than public schools and discriminate against students based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, ability, and religion. Vouchers mostly fund students who are already attending private school, and wealthy families are overwhelmingly the recipients of school voucher tax credits. Rural communities in particular are harmed by the redistribution of resources towards private vouchers. 

Understanding Our Opponents

At every level of government, the goal of anti-public education extremists is a policy regime of economic and political control by enriching themselves with our public dollars while widening racial, gender, and economic disparities via discrimination, indoctrination, censorship, and criminalization:

• How Project 2025 Would Devastate Public Education  
• Millions of campaign dollars aimed at tilting school voucher battles are flowing into states
• Unmasking Moms for Liberty
• How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education
• The Christian Nationalism Behind School Choice
• There is No Upside, A comprehensive look at what's wrong with school vouchers

How States Can Take Action

Working in collaboration with public education advocates in your state and educating constituents and your colleagues on what is at stake is essential. Consider bringing a delegation of your colleagues into a public school for a day, to fully understand the benefits and the hard work that goes into teaching. Connect constituents with community organizations working to protect and expand public education access. State legislators can also be essential partners in litigation support, ballot initiatives, and in securing new sources of state funding for the long-term, such as this proposal from Maryland. States like Virginia have also launched emergency task forces specifically dedicated to responding to federal threats to funding of essential programs and jobs. 

Building an Affirmative Vision for Public Schools 

We know Project 2025 began in the states; as we face attacks from all directions, it’s essential that we do not just defend the status quo, but build an affirmative vision for the future in states. People love public education and as In the Public Interest details, community schools are transforming public education. Working in collaboration with students, parents, teachers, and the workers who keep our schools running, we can build that vision in the states. 

See where your state ranks on the Education Law Center Making the Grade 2024, which documents persistent disparities in education funding, both among and within states. And the National Education Association's annual ranking of student and teacher salaries is another important indicator for where we are, and where we can build something better. 

SiX is working to organize partners in-state and across-states in support of legislators defending public education. If you have a research request, let us know.