CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the U.S. Department of Education gets put on the chopping block, state education officials worry about the impact the move will leave behind.

President Trump Thursday signed an executive order to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and leave the education system in the hands of individual states.

However, West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy’s Education Policy Fellow, Tamaya Browder told MetroNews that the USDE provides critical support, funding, and protections for school children.

Tamaya Browder

She predicts West Virginia schools will certainly feel an impact from its eradication.

“Initially, we’re still expecting it to have a pretty big impact, at least in practice, because, you know, you’re losing the folks that are working in that office day to day to implement these programs, to ensure children are protected in schools and receiving equitable education,” Browder said.

Although at this point, being early in the process, she said she isn’t sure of the exact impact it will have on funding.

However, Browder said that about $680 million in annual funding from the USDE goes to public school systems across West Virginia, according to state budget reports.

And, she said it goes to help fund a variety of crucial programs.

“Title 1, IDEA, vocational programs, programs to improve academics, and programs for bilingual education, and things like that, so there are a wide variety of things done day to day in our public schools that would be impacted,” Browder said.

Browder said although the majority of public school system funding comes from state and local sources, the federal department of education does play a large role in filling in the gaps, not only by providing additional funding for education support, but it also funds programs that help protect the civil rights of students in school.

She said typically, at the federal level, these programs help provide the funding to the most disadvantaged students, the ones that are most at need.

“We do have schools with Title 1, if you have a large proportion of your student body that is low income, you’re receiving that Title 1 funding, and so the federal formula for providing funding is a little different than how we do things at the state level,” Browder said. “It does go toward filling some of those gaps in schools that maybe are more rural, are more high-poverty school districts.”

According to budget reports, the USDE provides $154 million to 114,000 Title 1 students in West Virginia, and another $147 million to 47,000 children with physical and learning disabilities to receive Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding.

Additionally, Browder said federal dollars also help public schools systems compile data to make sure schools are performing at the level they need to be, and gage how they compare to other schools.

She said public education officials in the state are already faced with a myriad of challenges in schools across West Virginia.

From enrollment declines to staffing shortages currently being addressed, Browder said this dismantling of the USDE could create further challenges within the system on top of those.

“They all play a role in the decisions that our local administrators have to make, so this is just going to be another step, and they might have to reconsider how they’re operating schools in the future,” Browder said.

However, Browder said to formally shut down the U.S. Department of Education, that would require an act of Congress. She implores policymakers to consider the invaluable role of the USDE in funding critical programs and ensuring students’ civil rights protections and educational well-being.

She said these are needs that state and local governments can’t easily fulfill without raising revenue and increasing the size of their own governments.

Shelley Moore Capito

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, however, stated she believes President’s Trump’s move to eliminate the USDE would be beneficial to public school systems as it would better meet students’ individual needs within each district.

“For decades, the Department of Education at the federal level has taken a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, when in reality it’s the local communities and states that know what works best for them,” Senator Capito said. “President Trump’s Executive Order to consolidate the Department of Education will allow decisions to be made closer to the student, whether that’s in the state or even down to the locality. I agree with this move because it will help remove bureaucracy and empower the states to make the decisions that work best for them.”

For several years now, Republicans have talked of dismantling the USDE, and Trump’s vow to carry through with the measure was heard all the way back in his campaign.