What happens in North Carolina if the U.S. Department of Education shuts down?

The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, according to multiple media outlets, in what would be another move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises.

The proposal has been expected to gain steam after new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was confirmed March 3. Ater her confirmation, McMahon wrote a memo vowing to shift educational power to states and local communities and away from federal "overreach," calling it the department's "final" mission.

Trump’s effort comes as some Republicans in Congress also push for the abolition of the department, which sets some regulations, disburses some funding, and administers billions of dollars in grants for K-12 schools, colleges and universities. The department is also being targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk.

The idea of abolishing the department is opposed by 63% of North Carolina voters, while 30% of voters support it, according to a recent poll from Meredith College in Raleigh.

Here’s a look at what the department does for North Carolina, and what its elimination could mean for the state.

Why has the department been a target of Trump, and what does he want to do? Trump hasn’t entirely outlined his vision for what should happen to the Department of Education or the programs it oversees. But on the campaign trail, he pledged to dismantle and eventually shutter the department, which he has characterized as an agency injecting extreme ideology on race and gender into the nation’s public schools. The effort has more support among some Republicans.

“We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” Trump said in November.

Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave late last month as part of the administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts.

Some observers believe Project 2025 — proposed by think tank the Heritage Foundation but disavowed on the campaign trail by Trump — provides insight into what else his allies will pursue. The education portion of Project 2025 would cut the department and move administration of many of the federal education laws to other federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services. The group, however, also supports gradual reduction of Title I funding by moving funding responsibility over to states, instead.

Project 2025 also recommends moving the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights – , which is tasked with investigating alleged discrimination complaints at colleges and K-12 schools —, to the Department of Justice. And it proposes moving the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio to the Department of Treasury.

What does the department do, and what does it fund? Some of the Department of Education’s biggest jobs are to administer federal funding appropriated by Congress to K-12 schools and manage the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program and billions of dollars in financial aid.

The department’s two biggest funding programs for K-12 schools are the Title I program, which is meant to help educate children who attend low-income schools, and the IDEA program, which provides schools with money to help meet the needs of children with disabilities.

These programs pre-date the department’s existence but help fulfill the department’s congressionally declared purpose of “ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual.”

Federal funding typically accounts for roughly 10% of all K-12 school funding — about $1.5 billion — in North Carolina because the rest comes from state and local taxes.

Other federal agencies also manage major portions of federal education funds, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program. If the education department goes away, it’s possible that some programs and funding could be retained and shifted to other agencies.

“I don’t think that schools would suddenly lose money,” Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab, a research center focused on education finance policy at Georgetown University, told CNN.

The Title I program, for example, “has proven to be relatively popular on both sides of the aisle,” Roza said.

Most North Carolina schools are Title I schools, including more than 40 in Wake County.

Recent grants to North Carolina from the federal education department include $7.9 million for rural math-teacher training and several millions of dollars to multiple districts for new teacher recruitment and retention initiatives. Grants are awarded every year for career and technical education at some schools and enrichment programs for children at low-performing schools. New charter schools can receive startup funds.

Recently, the department canceled millions of dollars in grants to North Carolina school systems and teachers' colleges for teacher recruitment, retention and diversity efforts, citing intent to curb "divisive ideologies," though schools refuted whether their programs included any of those.

In North Carolina, federal funds pay for about 12,000 traditional public school employees, about 6.9% of their employees, and more than 500 public charter school employees, about 4.8% of charter schools' publicly funded employees. More than 200,000 North Carolina students are enrolled in special education, though most of the funding for them comes from the state.

The federal money that schools receive through programs like Title I and IDEA comes with strings attached, and those strings are what opponents of the department are frustrated with. Schools get the money contingent on meeting certain conditions and reporting requirements.

“For those of us concerned about the red tape the Department of Education creates, how we address those rules and conditions is the bigger question,” Frederick Hess, a senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told CNN.

What about universities? While the agency’s involvement in K-12 issues has often been in the spotlight politically, by far the department’s biggest expenditure is on higher education. More than 70% of its $224 billion annual budget goes to the federal student aid program. More than 211,000 North Carolina college students received a combined $1 billion in federal grants for the 2023-24 academic year, according to federal education records.

University of North Carolina System schools received about $1.4 billion in federal research funding in the 2023-24 fiscal year — about 62% of all university research funds and about 13% of the UNC budget, according to university administrators.

The system said this month that it would no longer require students to take courses focused on diversity, equity or inclusion as a condition of graduation — a response to Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order that seeks to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion instruction from public schools.

What regulations does the department enforce? The Department of Education has an oversight role and engages in federal rulemaking. The department issues regulations on how civil rights laws apply to various groups of students, including LGBTQ+ students, those from racial minorities and girls. For example, under President Joe Biden, the department’s Office for Civil Rights issued guidance saying that gay and transgender students must have equal access to most school programs and facilities. The first Trump administration rescinded Obama-era guidance that was meant to ensure minority students were not unfairly disciplined in schools.

States and local school boards still hold power that can’t be superseded by the department. During the pandemic, for example, the Department of Education could not require schools to close or remain open for in-person learning. In fact, despite a threat from then-President Trump, the executive branch could not unilaterally cut federal funding for schools that did not reopen in fall 2020.

The department’s Office of Civil Rights also investigates discrimination complaints. Those include claims of not being provided special education services or being retaliated against for filing a sexual harassment complaint. It’s unclear what would happen to enforcement of civil rights laws, if the U.S. Department of Education were eliminated.

When schools, districts or states aren’t doing what they need to do, the Office of Civil Rights can step in and hold them accountable, said Augustus Mays, vice president for partnerships and engagements at EdTrust, an education advocacy group focused on equity.

“Usually the U.S. Department of [Education] is that entity that really holds that high standard that all kids can learn,” regardless of their background or disability, he said.

In North Carolina, the department has fielded complaints alleging that state officials failed to stop discrimination against LGBTQ+ students or accusing local school systems of censorship. It has also monitored state officials’ compliance with laws focused on students with disabilities, among other issues.

Can Trump shut down the department himself? Executive orders alone likely couldn’t end the department. Shutting down a federal agency requires Congressional approval, so Trump would need support in the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

Calls by Republicans to abolish the department or merge it with another federal agency aren’t new, but Congress has historically balked at such proposals, even when Congress was controlled by Republicans who are critical of the agency.

During Trump’s first term as president, his administration proposed merging the Education and Labor departments into one federal agency. Even though Republicans controlled both the Senate and House of Representatives at the time, the proposal didn’t go anywhere.

In the meantime, Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has cut more than $900 million from the education department, mostly targeting its research arm.

The education department had 89 contracts terminated and 29 grants cut that were associated with diversity and equity training. Those cuts will affect the What Works Clearinghouse, which produces and curates research on the most effective curricula and practices in education.

Musk is also considering replacing some federal contract workers with the department with a more sophisticated artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. Those workers — and a less-sophisticated chatbot — answer questions for millions of students and parents every year, namely on student loans.

What does Trump’s education secretary nominee have to say? Linda McMahon, Trump’s new education secretary, says she believes Congress would need to vote to abolish the department.

She would prefer to keep Title I, Pell grants and the public service loan forgiveness program — a program that forgives federal loans for college graduates who spend a certain amount of time working in critical government roles.

McMahon, a former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive and a former U.S. Small Business Administration head during Trump’s first term, told senators that enforcement of special education law could work better under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and that the education department’s Office of Civil Rights could be more appropriately housed at the U.S. Department of Justice.

What do North Carolina and local officials have to say? The Wake County Board of Education — which oversees the state’s biggest public school district, and one of the biggest in the nation — drafted a letter to the state’s congressional delegation opposing the idea of eliminating the department. The draft letter calls the department "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 and 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," the letter said.

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.

U.S. Congressman Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., has introduced a bill to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education every other year since 2015 and last month introduced his latest such bill. It would move several education programs to other agencies, such as special education, student loans, workforce training and other programs. It would eliminate most Elementary and Secondary Education Act funding programs and turn their money into a grant to states that could be used however states like.

What about preschool? The U.S. Department of Education has a more limited role in preschool and early childhood education. It provides grants for some preschools and early childhood centers.

The department also oversees special education services for preschoolers as young as three years old who have a disability.

The Trump administration has targeted preschool funding indirectly in other ways. A threatened freeze of federal funding and a directive aimed at stopping diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives could affect some early childhood centers and preschools that receive federal grants.

What education orders has Trump already issued? Trump has signed an executive order to keep transgender women from competing in women’s sports and reversed the Biden Administration’s Title IX rules update.

He also rescinded a Biden-administration memo that said distribution of revenue to college athletes would need to be equally distributed among both men and women. The revenue is expected to mostly go to football and men’s college basketball athletes.

Trump has also directed federal officials to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and instruction on “gender ideology.”

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to schools and colleges telling them they had 14 days to comply with "existing civil rights laws," stop using race or "proxy" metrics to determine actions and to stop working with contractors that use race in ways the department believes are improper. The department plans to issue legal guidance on the matter.

In Wake County, Board Member Sam Hershey has said he supports diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and during a board meeting Feb. 4 argued "mediocre white men" have received too many privileges in the past. He said people who call Black people "diversity, equity and inclusion hires" are just circumventing using the N-word, citing speculation that "DEI hires" were involved in the helicopter-airplane crash in Washington, D.C., late last month that killed 67 people.

His comments have drawn praise and criticism online, as accounts have shared clips of his speech. On Friday night, Musk replied to a Libs of TikTok post about Hershey on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying "He is in for a rude awakening."

Trump has said he wants to use public money to allow parents to send their children to any school they want, including private and religious schools.

The Trump administration will also need to decide what to do with the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program, called SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education). The plan is tied up in lawsuits, and Trump has said it’s unfair to people who have already paid off their loans with the program’s help.