Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
State and local officials, along with the state’s congressional delegation, are raising concerns about the potential implications of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump yesterday that aims to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
While congressional approval would be needed to formally close a federal department, the executive order directs the secretary of education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
The executive order comes a week after Education Secretary Linda McMahon slashed the department’s workforce, including deep cuts to its Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.
In a prepared statement on March 20, Gov. Maura Healey said closing the Department of Education would be “bad for students, teachers and schools,” and could threaten more than $2 billion in education funding that flows to Massachusetts each year.
“This will mean bigger class sizes, cancelled afterschool programs and less support for our students, especially those who live in rural communities or have special needs,” the governor said.
She said the state would not be able to fully replace the loss of federal funds.
According to the Healey-Dirscoll administration, federal education funding to Massachusetts supports:
• Districts in low-income areas to help pay for teacher salaries and benefits, school counselors, and homeless liaisons
• Low- and middle-income students to help them afford to go to college
• Special education, including paying for assistive technology for students with disabilities; professional development and salaries for special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and reading specialists; and transportation to help students get the services and programming they need
• Student services like physical therapy, speech therapy and social workers
Following the dramatic Department of Education staff cuts, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit, on March 13 in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, against McMahon, the U.S. Department of Education, and President Trump to block their actions. [Update: Following the executive order, the coalition filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on March 24 as part of their lawsuit.]
The staff cuts and executive order were roundly denounced by local and public school leaders across Massachusetts. Several school districts, including Easthampton and Somerville, have joined educator unions in suing the Trump administration over the actions.
At an MMA meeting this morning in Wrentham, Congresswoman Katherine Clark said, “There’s no way Massachusetts can face that kind of cut to public schools,” on top of other federal budget cuts that have been forecasted. “That impact will not be something that even the best of wringing every penny out of every dollar is going to be able to handle.”
The U.S. Department of Education was created by an act of Congress in 1979. The department manages extensive student loan programs and a range of aid programs for colleges and school districts, like school meals and support for homeless students.
Title I, the largest source of federal funding for K-12 schools, aids schools and districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. The Department of Education also distributes Pell Grants that help students afford a post-secondary education.
While federal dollars make up a fraction of funding for public schools — between 6% and 13%, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office — those federal dollars are largely intended to help schools serve the most vulnerable students.