Texas receives billions of dollars annually from the Department of Education, and with efforts by the Trump administration to close or shrink the federal agency, it’s unclear how Texas education might fair if the department actually goes away.
Budgeted at $268 billion last year, the Department does not teach children or run schools. It funds programs so students can overcome learning obstacles. Title IX, for example, funds equal access to school athletics. Once enacted, it changed the face of sports for girls and young women in schools. Title III helps English language learners.
While the president’s move is surprising to many, former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa has seen it before.
“This has been rumored by several previous presidents,” Hinojosa said. “It was actually in Reagan’s plan. Way back. And a lot of people have talked about it and some people have forgotten about it.”
Hinojosa, now an education consultant, says President Ronald Reagan wanted smaller government and therefore an end to the education department. It was only a few years old when he took office. Hinojosa said the department survived then, but Trump’s efforts have been more effective.
“I was shocked at how quickly he moved,” Hinojosa said, ”even though he has no authority. This is a congressional law passed in 1979 that Congress has to deal with. But by removing people immediately, it’s stymied the whole organization.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon sees the department as bloated and in need of efficiency. The administration says it’ll hand services over to states and other federal departments.
In Dallas last year, the district got $94 million in federal Title I grants that help low-income students. Nearly every Dallas student qualifies.
Dallas ISD Chief Financial Officer, Eduardo Ramos, told trustees recently that he’s trying to figure out the impact on Dallas’ budget as the federal education department shrinks.
“Short term,” Ramos said, “the impact is minimal. Long term, we don’t know how that’s going to affect the district.”
The Texas Education Agency said it’s “working to ensure that there is minimal impact to critical grants and programs” if the Education Department closes.
Randy Willis, executive director of the Texas Association of Rural Schools, said federal funding for his districts is small, but vital.
“How do you support schools to make sure that that learning gap for the kids that are behind can get caught up?” asked Willis. “I mean, you’re talking about billions of dollars that come into Texas as a result of the Title funds.”
Willis said his districts need all of that money. While he believes the Education Department manages funds efficiently — in contrast to McMahon — he’s not sure Texas can do the same while still following its own small-government philosophy.
“I don’t see how it’s going be less government,” Willis said, “because if those rules that the federal government gets pushed down to the state government, it’ll probably increase government size.”
There’s another concern: a downsized or eliminated Education Department could result in less funding for the states. If that happens, University of Texas at Austin Education Professor Stella Flores is worried.
“Public schools in Texas were already deeply underfunded,” Flores said. “So you’re kicking the kids while they’re down.”
Michael Hinojosa is slightly more optimistic. The TEA saw this coming, he said, and it’s better prepared than most state agencies to take on new responsibilities. As long as formulas remain the same, districts will get money promised them. But if funding comes through block grants, he said all bets are off.
“The state of Texas could get that money and not distribute it by how many poor kids you have,” Hinojosa said. “It could be distributed evenly. And then the rural and urban districts would become big losers.”
So while Hinojosa’s watching closely, he urges calm, if possible — and he expects this will all keep playing out over many months and in many courts, through a lot of litigation.
“It’s a lot of noise, and I understand people being scared because this is very traumatic,” said Hinojosa. “My advice to them: don’t panic just yet.”
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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