Some state education departments concerned about tech funding under Trump

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on vows to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and send its funding directly to the states, but several state education agencies are concerned about the future of federal monies that can fund school technologies.

Though Republicans will control the upcoming Congress, the narrow partisan split in both the House and Senate will make it difficult to get the three-fifths vote necessary to dismantle the Education Department. Yet some state education agencies told StateScoop they’re concerned about what might happen to the billions of federal grant dollars they receive. Allocations from its many federal education grant programs, such as Title I-A or Title IV-A, can be used by school districts to purchase digital devices, software and programs designed to improve learning environments for students from low-income families or those with disabilities.

StateScoop reached out to the education departments of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to ask if they were considering Trump’s promise. We also asked for details about how federal funds are used to purchase or maintain technologies for schools.

While some state education departments expressed a hesitancy to speculate about what will happen under Trump, others said they were drafting contingency plans and noted the “long-lasting consequences” the elimination would have. 

Twenty-two states responded to StateScoop’s requests. A handful of states — such as Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and Nevada — declined to comment about Trump’s proposal, citing its hypothetical nature.

State education department communications officials in Connecticut, Idaho and Colorado said they did not want to comment as there’s been no official change in the status of the federal department, but said they were continuing to focus on their work to empower students. 

“As always, we look forward to collaborating with federal leaders to ensure that all Connecticut students have access to a high-quality education and the resources they need to succeed,” a spokesperson for the Connecticut State Department of Education said in an emailed statement. 

‘Could undermine progress’

Others were direct about their concerns. A spokesperson from New Hampshire’s Department of Education told StateScoop it had begun “scenario planning” for a dismantling of the federal education department. The spokesperson added that it was also evaluating the potential impacts to block grants like Title I and other administrative responsibilities if the federal department were dismantled.

Officials in Maine said they were worried about how the lack of federal guidance may impact digital equity efforts. Chloe Teboe, director of communications at the Maine Department of Education, told StateScoop in an emailed statement that the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Educational Technology provides “vital oversight and guidance to ensure equitable access to technology for all students” through its National Education Technology Plan, which it updated this year.

Teboe said the plan serves as a “guiding framework for Maine’s efforts to promote digital equity,” and that it helps the state’s school districts determine how to pull from various federal funding programs to acquire essential classroom technology and invest in professional development programs for educators.

“A lack of support from the U.S. DOE could undermine the progress made in equipping students for the future, with potentially long-lasting consequences,” Teboe said.

Officials in many other states — including Illinois, Mississippi, Oregon and Vermont — declined to speculate. But some noted that because most federal funds pass through state education agencies to local school districts, their agencies aren’t responsible for making decisions about technology spending. This leaves many spending decisions to the districts, based on districts’ unique needs and priorities, including compliance with federal guidelines. 

Trump’s ‘very difficult’ task

Marc Siegel, communications director for the Oregon Department of Education, said his department has access to a wide array of education-specific federal funding sources that pass through to local school districts, each of which, he said, would have its own answer the question of potential impact.

A spokesperson from the Pennsylvania Department of Education said that of the $1.6 billion the federal department provides the state each year, it receives $762 million through Title I. It receives another $55 million for technology and digital literacy through the federal department, and other funds it receives through Title IV-A are partly intended to be spent to “improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.”

Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education entirely would require an act of Congress. Reg Leichty, an attorney with expertise in education, children’s privacy and technology law and policy, and founding partner of Foresight Law and Policy, said the razor-thin partisan margins in the upcoming 119th Congress will make it difficult for Trump to make good on his promise.

This difficulty recently played out in Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives last year considered an amendment to a bill that sought to shut down the Education Department, and it failed by a vote of 161-265, with more than 60 Republican members joining Democrats in opposition.

“It’s not likely that, even with a Republican in the White House, that they’ll be able to achieve deep spending cuts on education. Now, will the Trump administration, through the president’s budget request next year, propose to dramatically reduce programs? Yeah, absolutely. But the president’s budget request is just a policy statement,” Leichty told StateScoop. “That will not be a surprise at all, but it will be very difficult for them to move any spending bills, especially in the Senate, without Democratic support, because they have to have 60 votes.”