As Donald Trump fleshes out his promise to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, experts suggest that Connecticut schools would be somewhat insulated from federal policy shifts, but still vulnerable to spending cuts that could arise in the president-elect’s next term.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the Department of Education and openly expressed his intent to use federal funds as bargaining chips to push policies centered on parental rights and an end to “Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content” in schools.
In his 2024 Republican campaign platform, Trump promised to “Return Education to the States.”
Experts in Connecticut are still unsure of how this plan would play out, and how it would impact K-12 schools.
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Public school districts in Connecticut received more than $888 million — roughly 8% of their budget — from the federal government last school year. However this level of funding represents a deviation from the norm, Lisa Hammersley, the executive director of the School and State Finance Project explained.
Over the last four years, public schools across the country saw a bump in federal funding, fueled by the infusion of one-time COVID-19 relief. Now that those funds have expired, Hammersley said Connecticut can expect federal contributions to return to pre-pandemic levels.
For Connecticut, Hammersley said that number is lower than “what people would think” — approximately $500 to $550 million a year, representing just 3% to 4% of the state’s education budget.
While the contribution might appear small, Hammersley said the funding specifically targets students with the highest need. Each year districts rely on federal grants from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title I, which supports low-income students, and multilingual learner support.
Hammersley said the highest levels of need are concentrated in Connecticut’s urban communities.
Last school year, federal contributions accounted for 15% to 20% of all public school funding in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Norwich, Waterbury and Windham, according to data from the School and State Finance Project. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, during the 2018-2019 school year, the federal funding for these districts ranged from roughly 5% to 9%.
“Those areas that are already our most under-resourced, high-need communities would be those districts that would receive a significant reduction in federal support,” Hammersley said.
If Trump fulfills his promise to dismantle the Department of Education, Hammersley said the impact on Connecticut school funding could vary.
“If he just eliminates the department and shifts the funding and the administration of those funds to other departments, then it would have less of an impact on school districts as compared to if he actually proposes to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and proposes to eliminate the funding,” Hammersley said.
“I could be surprised, but I can't imagine that he would recommend eliminating the federal support of education that was in place prior to the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Hammersley added. “I'm hopeful that the likelihood of stripping those vital resources from public school districts … (is) pretty small given that it would result in U.S. reps and senators across the country voting to eliminate funding for their districts.”