What Pennsylvania will lose if Education Department is dismantled
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
President Trump's campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education could prove costly for Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: Funding for public schools primarily falls to local and state governments but federal funds work to fill the gaps.
- Cuts could force school administrators to balance budgets by raising taxes or slashing spending.
State of play: K-12 schools in Pennsylvania spend about $36.3 billion annually, or $21,441 per pupil, according to the Education Data Initiative.
- And they receive more than $4.6 billion, or $2,757 per student, from the federal government, the data shows.
Zoom in: The School District of Philadelphia is primarily funded by state and local sources.
- Federal funding accounted for less than 1% of the district's funding this year, or about $16 million. (That excludes federal pandemic relief funding, which ran out this year.)
Catch up quick: Trump regularly floated eliminating the Department of Education on the campaign trail, and has called the agency an example of federal overreach.
- Trump promised to sign an executive order curtailing the Department of Education's powers, and dozens of its employees were placed on administrative leave last week.
Context: A president does not have the authority to create or dismantle a federal agency, only Congress.
The intrigue: Even if the Education Department is disbanded, programs within its purview could fall to other federal agencies. Head Start, for example, is already run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The big picture: States that voted for Trump last November, on average, use more federal funding in their education apportions than states that voted for former Vice President Harris.
- Average federal spending in the 2021-22 school year was 17% in Trump-voting states, compared to 11% in states that voted for Harris, per USA Facts.
- In Pennsylvania, it was 13.6%.
Between the lines: Student performance, which was already in decline before the pandemic, has worsened since 2020 overall, making federal funds to help bridge academic gaps all the more important.
- Federal funds also include grant programs to help at-risk or disabled students, per the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.