Jennifer Chambers, The Detroit News
The proposed dissolution of the U.S. Department of Education is likely to touch every level of public education in Michigan, education experts say, from preschoolers to high schoolers to college borrowers.
The specific effects of gutting the federal department that distributes billions in federal dollars to schools and colleges and manages the federal student loan portfolio might not be known for weeks or months as the changes work their way through Michigan schools and communities.
President Donald Trump ordered his education secretary Thursday to close the department and return the authority of education to the states. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the department will not be fully closed, which would require congressional approval, but said a smaller version will continue to administer “critical functions,” according to the Washington Post.
“Instead of maintaining the status quo that is failing American students, the Trump Administration’s bold plan will return education where it belongs — with individual states, which are best positioned to administer effective programs and services that benefit their own unique populations and needs,” according to a Thursday White House statement.
The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to continue to deliver services, programs and benefits “uninterrupted” and requires that any programs or activities receiving any remaining federal education funds not advance diversity, equity and inclusion or gender ideology.
The move follows the layoffs of half of the department’s 4,133-member staff on March 11.
Education observers in Michigan say preschoolers in Head Start, summer schoolers trying to make up pandemic learning losses, English language learners and high school seniors trying to access college and career education are expected to feel the pain of changes coming from cuts to the department that was created to ensure equal access to education.
On Wednesday, about 40 educators and community members gathered outside a Warren elementary school wearing red and holding signs for passersby to protest the cuts and ask the public to support preserving the U.S. Department of Education and protect students and schools.
Bob Callendar, president of the Warren Education Association, said cuts to federal grant programs through colleges have already taken away training opportunities for teachers who work with students whose first language is not English.
“We are here to protect our students and our families because that’s really what it’s all about as educators,” Callendar said. “We deal with a large at-risk population, we deal with poverty, we deal with special education students, and there’s a lot of supports and things that come through federal funding.”
Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, said that special student programming and services will remain untouched by the changes for the rest of the school year. But proposed federal cuts to Medicaid — which reimburses districts for special education services and other K-12 education funding — might lead to larger class sizes, reduced transportation and less staffing, Vitti said.
It could also mean fewer programs for early childhood, after-school and summer school students, Vitti said.
“The district will do everything it can to protect staffing and student programming for all K-12 students, including those with special needs, for at least a year (next year) through our fund balance (rainy day fund),” Vitti said in an email. “However, we would need to be better supported through state funding and eventually see federal funding levels restored (possibly after mid-term elections) for us to protect staffing levels and student programming beyond a year.”
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, told reporters Wednesday that the state would be better served by removing decision-making on education issues from the federal level and putting it in the hands of local and state officials.
“We should all support bringing those decisions down to the local level and the state level,” Hall said. “What a great opportunity we would have for the state of Michigan if they eliminate the federal Department of Education and they take that money, and they bring it down to states, and they give states’ discretion on how to use that money.”
The Republican-controlled Michigan House adopted a resolution Thursday by voice vote that supports “the devolution of power from the United States Department of Education” and asks Congress to cooperate with those efforts.
Giving states greater control
Federal education budget cuts would have an impact on all students, not just those for whom the funds are dedicated, said Glenn Maleyko, former president of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators and current superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools.
“I was just at a special education facility today. There are students with great needs,” Maleyko said Tuesday. “What will happen is this: There’s certain laws on the books we have to continue to provide services for special ed students, so students that are not special ed also lose services because now you’re going be required to use general funding dollars from the state to make up the difference. So it’s really going to be an unfunded mandate by the federal government if they do make these cuts.”
It is difficult to predict the exact changes coming for students and schools after half the federal education workforce was fired, said Molly Macek, education policy director at the fiscally conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland. But she said it is important for K-12 districts and colleges to understand the Trump administration does not have the power to close or dismantle the department.
“This reduction in workforce does not equate to a change in funding — that’s available for the programs that are in our schools,” Macek said. “Congress has not made a decision yet about the department’s budget and how those programs are funded. We’re not seeing any changes in how programs can be administered at the district level.”
Laws passed by Congress, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, remain in place and will still protect students, the Mackinac Center expert said. Enforcement of that law could be handled by another federal department.
“There’s a civil rights law in place that prevents schools from discriminating against students with disabilities, so that law is still in place that hasn’t been changed,” Macek said. “By the law, they must still have their IEPs and receive those accommodations that are in it.”
The changes being made by the Trump administration will lead to a more decentralized education system, giving the states more control over their own students, she said.
“So the positive of limiting the control of the federal government is that states have greater control over the policies or even individual districts have greater control over the policies that they’re able to implement,” Macek said. “This gives greater autonomy to determine policies and implement policies that work best for their student population.”
Special education worries
About 212,000 students with disabilities and 681,000 students from low-income families in Michigan are among the primary beneficiaries of federal education services and funding, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is among 21 attorneys general from across the nation challenging the dismantling of the federal education department through a lawsuit filed March 13.
Federal funds for special education include support for assistive technology for students with disabilities, teacher salaries and benefits, transportation to help children receive services and programming, physical therapy and speech therapy services, and social workers to help manage students’ educational experience, Nessel said.
The federal education department also supports students in rural communities by offering programs to help school districts that often lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for competitive grants. Nessel called Trump’s executive order illegal, dangerous and reckless.
Rochester parent Stephanie Onyx knows what the removal of special education services and support for her two children, Alexa and Drew, who have multiple disabilities, would mean for her family: regression.
Both children get support from a host of services at school, from occupational therapy to speech therapy to a specialized stander for her son and a special chair for her daughter to support their physical needs during the school day. They have one-on-one aides in their school districts, Troy and Rochester.
“I’m just scared of what the future looks like for them,” Onyx said. “I do the best I can as a parent, but I’m definitely not a professional and you know they have goals at school by trained professionals. I can’t give that to them. They need that routine. They need the interaction.”
Diana Wright, who has nine adopted children who all require special education services or accommodations under federal law, said she is fearful of what is to come for the education of all children with disabilities or special needs.
Wright’s children attend Wyandotte Public Schools, which she complimented as being collaborative with her about her children’s special education needs. She has called the superintendent to understand better what could be coming under the changes. Her children range from preschoolers to middle school students.
“(The superintendent) said we’re just going to keep doing what we do, providing what we provide,” Wright said. “But we all know that once guidelines come down from the state to the county to the district, who knows? I believe that our special education staff as well as administration want do the right thing, but sometimes their hands are tied.”
Michael Rice, Michigan’s state superintendent of instruction, said the federal government should focus on supporting teaching and learning for children at the local level rather than the president’s ill-advised plan.
“As educators, we must continue to keep our eyes on our most important goal — educating and supporting our children,” Rice said in a statement on Thursday. “At the end of the day, I do not believe the U.S. Department of Education will be shuttered. Congress and the American people will not allow it.”
But Republican U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township argued Trump’s moves would challenge the education establishment and improve education.
“The U.S. Department of Education has been pushing woke policies for far too long,” wrote McClain, the chair of the House Republican Conference, on X. “There is too much bloated federal bureaucracy. Despite more money being spent, test scores have not improved. We should focus the dollars on the students, not administrators.”
‘It’s going to be the Wild West’
It’s not clear how the federal department’s regulatory role in services for millions of students with disabilities, low-income kids and homeless children will be carried out with less staff. Some theorized the states will have to step in and carry out those duties including enforcement of civil rights issues in education. Vitti said the staffing cuts will mean less guidance and monitoring from the federal government.
“This will likely mean that complaints filed by parents will be resolved more frequently at the state and district level without the federal government monitoring and involvement,” Vitti said.
Marcie Lipsitt, a special education advocate in Michigan who has filed hundreds of civil rights complaints with the federal education department on behalf of Michigan families, said she learned last week from an attorney that the entire staff of the U.S. Office of Civil Rights in Cleveland was fired.
That office handled complaints for Michigan students. Lipsitt said staffers there told her no one could send external emails or contact parents and families. With the Cleveland office closed and half the staff from the federal education department gone, she said the future of any pending complaints remains uncertain.
“The local impact is going to be, and it’s already starting, a lack of accountability. Parents are going to have to fight harder than they have had to fight in 60 years for their children, and they are not prepared for that,” Lipsitt said.
Dismantling the federal department and sending control over special education enforcement to the 50 states will result in different rules from state to state, Lipsitt predicted. And students with disabilities and children who are economically disadvantaged will see their public school supports destroyed, she said.
“It’s going to be a total free-for-all,” Lipsitt said. “It’s going to be the Wild West, and can you imagine if 50 states have authority? You’ll have 50 states of education in America.”
‘Hundreds of millions’ at risk in Michigan
White House officials said the U.S. Department of Education will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students and competitive grantmaking.
The University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University are among more than 50 universities nationwide that are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials said exclude White and Asian American students.
The Education Department announced the new investigations on March 14, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.
“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”
Josh Cowen, professor of education policy at Michigan State University’s College of Education, said he sees Trump’s latest actions as a sign he intends to make good on his campaign promise to abolish the department and to issue executive orders that create legal and policy uncertainty around funding for children in local schools and communities.
Cowen said the draft order directs McMahon to create a plan for eliminating whatever the administration can do on its own. McMahon is to pay special attention to any programs that might fall afoul of the administration’s earlier orders on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives, Cowen said.
“In Michigan, hundreds of millions of dollars may be at risk. Whether the U.S. Department of Education still technically exists, it will be a shell of itself,” he said in a statement. “Once regional offices close and jobs are cut, supports and services are no longer guaranteed in a timely manner. How these changes ripple through Michigan schools and communities will be a developing and ongoing story over the coming weeks and months.”