Wake school board drafting lobbying letter to keep the U.S. Department of Education

The Wake County Board of Education plans to urge North Carolina's congressional delegation to keep the U.S. Department of Education and make it more robust.

The board on Tuesday discussed a draft proposal that would oppose moves the Trump administration is trying to make happen. On Tuesday, NBC News, CNN and other outlets reported the Trump administration plans an executive order to begin the process of eliminating the department.

The board's draft letter predates the reports, but Board Chairman Chris Heagarty said he drafted the letter knowing it was something Trump had said he wanted to do.

The letter states the department is "a vital agency responsible for ensuring equitable access to quality education for all students. The USDOE establishes policies that ensure eligible applicants serving early childhood, elementary, secondary & post secondary programs, individuals with disabilities, those living in poverty, migrants, and those with limited English proficiency adhere to practices that best serve these populations."

President Donald Trump has pushed for years to eliminate the department, which he says is supporting "indoctrination" of youth through supporting liberal-leaning education curriculum.

Eliminating the federal education department would require an act of Congress. On top of that, it could happen in any number of ways that would have widely varying impacts on North Carolina schools.

The U.S. Department of Education carries out or oversees numerous federal programs that were enacted by separate acts of Congress. Those include the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which started special education programming, and the Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which includes Title I funding for schools with higher concentrations of lower-income students, magnet school funding and other things. In other words, eliminating the federal education department wouldn't get rid of special education programs, Title I or many other programs; the laws that created them would still exist.

The department oversees the implementation of some of these laws. For example, it conducts investigations into compliance with civil rights laws, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which created Title IX.

It's unclear whether Trump or other Republican lawmakers who also support eliminating the department would also pursue overturning or modifying those federal laws. Project 2025, proposed by thinktank the Heritage Foundation but disavowed in part by Trump, proposes cutting the department and moving the administration of many of the federal education laws to other federal agencies. The group, however, also supports the gradual reduction of Title I funding by moving funding responsibility over to states, instead.

After Tuesday's meeting, Heagarty said he's not sure what to make of the Trump administration's plan without seeing details but fears "tremendous negative impacts."

"Right now, there are so many important federal programs that come through the United States Department of Education," he said. He added, "So what does eliminating the Department of Education mean? Does it mean eliminating the department, firing all the employees [and] eliminating all the programs? Does it mean restructuring it and just putting those employees and those programs into different federal agencies? I don't know. So based on what I've seen and what I've heard, I'm going to assume it's dismantling the agency and dismantling the programs."

The school system has more than 20,000 students enrolled in special education and more than 40 schools that receive Title I funding for things like extra teachers or other services. The school system has 13 magnet schools that are supported by federal magnet school assistance program funding for either starting or modifying their magnet programs.

Board Member Sam Hershey said he wanted to communicate to the Congressional delegation that the school system needs to keep the help it's getting.

The school board hasn't voted on sending the draft letter to Wake County's congressional members.

The letter is a part of the board's larger federal legislative priorities for education, essentially a pamphlet lobbying lawmakers on what's in the Wake school system's best interests.

The board ran out of time to discuss every proposal board members had and plan to continue discussion during their Feb. 18 work session before voting at a regular meeting to send the letter.

Other items the board wants to address include more funding for special education, more infrastructure funding and expansion of the free school meals program.

Board Members Wing Ng and Toshiba Rice suggested drafting a parallel letter to families on how the federal government affects their children and their schools and how eliminating the federal education department could affect them.

"They just want to know, 'How is this affecting my family directly?'" Rice said.