Project 2025 prescriptions could radically alter public education, shift funds to private schools
If the Trump administration goes through with its threats to get rid of the Department of Education, K12 education would likely be severely threatened in many ways.
Public education is often called the cornerstone of our economy, democracy, and society. That is why Wisconsin, and every state, has incorporated public education in its state constitution.
Wisconsin’s 421 K-12 school districts receive anywhere from 8 to 10 percent of their annual budget from the federal government. The Department of Education (DOE) distributes the funds for after-school activities, early education programs, lunch subsidies, special needs services and more. In addition, the DOE enforces civil rights laws that protect students against discrimination.
If the Trump administration goes through with its threats to get rid of the Department of Education, K12 education would likely be severely threatened in so many ways. Federal funding may be cut altogether or sent to the states as block grants, perhaps for vouchers and independent charters.
All of these things are outlined in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s grand plan for dismantling or radically altering government institutions. The privatization of public schools would almost certainly result in greater disparity in educational opportunities as well as create ideologically driven curriculums.
Among the many ways, public education would be impacted:
Individuals with Disability Education Act funding, now implemented and regulated by the Education Department, would go to states with no strings attached. Before IDEA, students with the most severe disabilities were institutionalized or not educated at all. Students with milder disabilities were ignored or put in “slow classes.” In some states, there could be a return to that system.
Title I funding, which helps level the playing field for schools with large proportions of high-needs students, would be distributed without department regulation and at the whim of state politicians. Funding would eventually be eliminated, according to Project 2025.
Without the Education Department’s extensive data collection through its National Center of Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights, researchers would not have access to the data they need to compare states and their outcomes.
Without the department’s Office of the Inspector General, there would be no federal agency for parents and teachers to register serious violations of students’ rights so that they might receive a thorough investigation.
