NC superintendent: U.S. Department of Education 'critical' for schools

North Carolina education leaders are cautiously awaiting a possible executive order aimed at abolishing the U.S. Department of Education.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order soon directing federal officials to begin the process of eliminating the department, according to national media reports, and his administration has reportedly been drafting one for weeks.

Experts say Trump can't abolish the department on his own; only Congress can. Trump had wanted to dismantle the department during his first presidential term but didn't have the support of Congress.

On Thursday, North Carolina's educational leadership said closing the department would have major implications for North Carolina schools and students.

State Superintendent Mo Green said federal funding is critical toward improving student services and outcomes.

"The federal government, with the resources that's provided, are critically important to us continuing that work and working on improvement," Green said, citing work to increase graduation rates and to get more students earning college credit while in high school.

North Carolina gets about $1.5 billion every year from the federal government, namely funding things like extra help for students with disabilities and Title I schools in lower-income communities. About a third of that funding comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the national school meal programs.

Trump hasn't said what he wants to do with the U.S. Department of Education-administered programs, but some members of Congress want states to start funding Title I instead.

Most North Carolina schools are Title I schools. In Wake County, about a third of schools are.

Most education department programs are authorized under federal law and can only be cut by Congress.

On top of administering Congressionally approved funding programs, the department also writes rules interpreting federal laws and court decisions and investigates civil rights complaints and some compliance issues.

State Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis said the department is valuable in guiding states on education issues and provides a "focus" for states.

"If that went away, then at the very least that would disperse and likely diffuse the synergy that Department of Education brings to those various programs and would certainly complicate our ability to deliver on those programs to the benefit of our children," Davis said. "So I don't really see a positive effect on our children's education by eliminating the Department of Education."

New Education Secretary Linda McMahon said this week she wants to shift federal power over to states and local communities -- what she called the department's "final" mission. McMahon and other department critics note that many of the federal education programs predate the U.S. Department of Education's existence and call disbanding the department a "return" to more state-controlled education.

During her confirmation hearing in February, McMahon suggested moving some programs under other departments, such as moving special education under the Department of Health and Human Services or moving the Office of Civil Rights under the U.S. Department of Justice.

Green didn't want to speculate on how programs could be affected by moving under another department.

He said his biggest focus right now is on making sure the federal programs continue to be funded. He noted the U.S. Department of Education has already cut millions of dollars in grants to school systems and teachers colleges that were designed to improve teacher recruitment, retention, quality and diversity. The department cited a desire to cut down on schools pushing "divisive ideologies," though some schools disputed whether their programs featured those things.

Green said a loss of the $1.5 billion in annual federal funds would be detrimental to the state's public schools and would cost thousands of jobs.

"That will have a dramatic impact on students and families and educators," Green said.

Abolishing the federal education department wouldn't cut funding by itself, given that funding is generally appropriated through acts of Congress. Funding for students with disabilities, for example, comes from Congressional appropriations related to the law that requires special education services: The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

Experts believe only Congress has the authority to abolish the department. Congress could choose to roll back some of its own laws as a part of the process, but it's unclear how popular that would be among members. Polls in North Carolina and the nation indicate most people don't favor the idea of abolishing the department, and many federal programs, such as special education, are popular.

During the State Board of Education's meeting Thursday, Board Member Olivia Oxendine, a Republican, expressed some concerns about the plans she was hearing about. Oxendine said she was concerned about the potential move of a federal grant program for Native American education to the U.S. Department of Interior, which houses the Bureau of Indian Education. The Bureau of Indian Education, she said, is largely focused on schools on reservations and tribal lands and federally recognized tribes. However, the grant is for any school working with native students, regardless of whether their tribe is federally recognized or their school is on a reservation.

If the U.S. Department of Education goes away, Oxendine said, she hopes the grant program will transfer to states instead of the Department of Interior. She's worried the program won't "get the same kind of attention" it's been getting since it started 1973, if it moves to another federal agency.