Education leaders split on how Department of Education cuts will affect families

As the school year gets underway, millions of students are returning to the classroom with a diminished Department of Education — and many education leaders and parents are split on what it could mean for American families.

Some of the parents and educators told ABC News that they welcome limited federal government involvement, while others argued it would hurt American families and cause “chaos.”

Many families told ABC News that they fear consequences from proposed changes to the department, including potentially transferring federal funds to states through block grants, rehoming money for students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services, and exacerbating the backlog of civil rights complaints due to shuttered regional offices throughout the country.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called the recent Supreme Court decision — allowing her to officially shrink the department by about 50% on Aug. 1 — a “significant win” for families. The administration’s slashing of the Education Department has largely focused on restoring power to parents as President Donald Trump campaigned on removing the federal watchdog in Washington from government-funded schools.

But education advocates and parents are divided on whether transferring responsibilities to the state and local level aids or hinders American families.

Tonya Strozier, an educator and former principal in Arizona’s Tucson Unified School District whose six kids attended schools in the state, said she thinks parents don’t yet understand what the real potential is of not having the Education Department.

“If you think about why it even needed to exist, well, it was because we needed a watchdog to protect students that have special needs, or, you know, students from underserved communities,” Strozier told ABC News.

Education is already a local level-issue. On average, the federal Education Department administers roughly 10% of public school funds nationwide, according to education experts.

Megan Degenfelder, the superintendent of Public Instruction in Wyoming, has long said that states and not the federal government should handle education and its financial decisions. Degenfelder told ABC News most education responsibilities should lie with local governments and some existing services could be transferred to other departments.

“Our founding fathers designed our country, our government, in a way that states would have the ultimate authority when it comes to education,” Degenfelder said.

Debbie Critchfield, Idaho’s education chief, said that reducing red tape and bureaucracy with education is “100% better for American families.”

“We’re [in Idaho] going to continue to take care of kids whether or not the federal Department of Education exists,” Critchfield said.

“Will we continue to support kids [and their families] and the needs that they have? 100%,” Critchfield added.

“I think it comes down to a matter of whose role and whose job is it to do those things, and if we say it’s the job of the state to direct the education of the kids and the students in their state, then the dismantling of the federal Department of Education does not change that,” she said.

National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues, who represents more than 1,000 affiliated parent organizations, contends that families are the backbone of the American economy, but said that recent threats to the department have caused widespread “chaos.”

“If a program is abruptly ended, or a school is abruptly closed, or your child’s [Individualized Education Program] is no longer fully implemented because they’re no longer having access to the resources or personnel that they need — that throws families into chaos,” Rodrigues told ABC News. “Families operating in chaos like that leads to a whole world of problems.”

Education cuts nearly became a reality when it was announced that roughly $6 billion in title funding that is typically allocated on July 1 would be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget. The pause on congressionally authorized money left school districts scrambling, but last week that funding was released to states under the condition that they comply with federal laws.

McMahon has stressed she is not defunding programs and will continue to perform all of the agency’s “statutory duties.” Core functions — such as the $14 billion in special education services — were allocated to states on time on July 1, according to the Office of Special Education Programs.

Meanwhile, some former Department of Education employees have said that American families will be better off letting the states handle the essential responsibilities of educating children. Sarah Parshall Perry, who said she raised two sons who benefited from special needs protections, is the vice president of Defending Education — a national, grassroots nonprofit empowering parents — and was the department’s senior counsel to the assistant secretary for civil rights during Trump’s first term. She said she believes federal civil rights protections must be enforced by the administration — regardless of the Education Department’s role — but at the same time said department “bureaucracy” doesn’t, in fact, help kids learn.

“The Department of Education doesn’t educate any students,” Perry told ABC News, adding that “it simply spends money and has very little to show for it.”

“Something has to be sort of the root cause for where we’re lacking rigor and I think this is an opportunity for states to really step up their curricular standards,” Perry said.