By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday, March 20, calling for dismantling the U.S. Dept. of Education.
What that means for the country — and Vermont — is an open question.
The U.S. Congress created the Dept. of Education, and its dissolution requires the body’s approval. The courts have blocked or limited Trump’s attempts to shutter other offices in the federal government, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
But the president’s declarations have had an immediate impact, and about half of the Dept. of Education’s employees are already on their way out either through voluntary resignations or cuts, NPR reported. The downsizing has hit the department’s Office for Civil Rights particularly hard.
A White House spokesperson told reporters Thursday that the Dept. of Education would retain some of its responsibilities, including overseeing federal student loans.
More than 78,000 Vermonters have student loan debt totaling nearly $3 billion, Vermont Public reported last year. Undergraduates at UVM receive almost $28 million in federal student loans, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and Vermont State University students receive nearly $17 million.
Last week, Anne Bordonaro, who leads the Vermont Agency of Education’s work on federal education programs, told lawmakers that core federally funded education initiatives should escape “significant cuts” until at least the 2026-2027 school year.
In fiscal year 2024, the Agency of Education received $493 million in federal funds, more than 90% of which it passed on as grants. Through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the state receives more than $68 million annually, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides another $37.5 million for Vermont’s schools, Bordonaro said, among other streams of federal dollars.
However, Bordonaro did not address how changes in Washington could impact state-level positions. More than 40% of the Agency of Education’s staff members — 73 employees— were paid using federal funds in fiscal year 2024, according to the agency’s annual budget book.
Vermont has already lost some education-related funds, including $1.7 million in USDA grants that in part supported schools’ local food purchasing.
The chairs of Vermont’s education committees, Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, and Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, both said they had not received communications from the Agency of Education regarding the executive order.
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., spent time in the State House on Thursday, March 20, to discuss the federal impacts on the state budget.
In an interview, he called Trump’s then-prospective order “unconstitutional,” characterizing the move as “pulling the rug out from underneath an important element of our educational system.”Welch said he’s all for making the Dept. of Education “less bureaucratic,” but he argued the administration’s actions go well beyond an attempt at good governance. “This is an illegal part of the illegal rampage that Trump is on. I mean, he has no authority to destroy by fiat an institution that was created by an act of Congress — with Republican and Democratic votes, by the way,” Welch said.
He predicted the courts would halt the department’s dismantling, but not before “so much damage” is done by the president’s orders.
In a statement released after the order was signed, Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., a former middle school teacher, decried the action, calling it “an absolute abandonment of our kids.”
“We have to fulfill our promises to them and to make it possible for every single kid to reach their fullest potential. And without the Dept. of Education, we can’t provide the resources they need,” Balint said in the statement. “Schools are a lifeline for so many families; this will mean schools won’t be able to provide our kids with the basics.”
Trump’s directive is not without precedent. Former President Ronald Reagan also sought the Dept. of Education’s abolishment, a move that ultimately failed to garner favor.
