What would it mean for New York if the Education Department is dissolved?
President Trump campaigned on dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, and CBS News has confirmed that he plans to sign an executive order to begin the process. The timing of such a move wasn't immediately clear, and the Trump administration technically needs more than an executive order to get it done.
"We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world. And we're ranked near the bottom of the list. We're ranked very badly. So what I want to do is let the states run the schools," Trump said.
Largely, they already do. The New York City Public School system, for example, is almost 95% funded at the state and local level. Still, that 5% of federal funding is equal to $2.2 billion.
What would dissolving the U.S. Department if Education mean for New York?
While the vast majority of funding for school systems across the country comes from state and local levels, billions of dollars in federal money simply going away could have drastic effects.
"The blast radius of this order will harm nearly every child, every family, every community," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
"We're not going to be able to backfill losses like this scale - $5 billion. So the children are going to suffer," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
What would be impacted if the federal funding went away?
"Schools with high numbers of low-income students. That's called Title 1 Funding," said Michael Elsen-Rooney of Chalkbeat New York said. "There's also funding for students with disabilities that comes from the federal Department of Education. There's hundreds of millions of dollars for school lunch."
The impact will likely hit low-income districts and schools harder than others in the classroom. Outside the classroom, Democratic lawmakers have been sounding the alarm about property taxes in rural, less populated areas where school taxes are a larger percentage of property taxes.
Hochul, for example, has said that homeowners and businesses will be hit with tax hikes in rural areas because states have to make up for the money no longer coming from the federal government.
The funding for school meals is the most likely to change drastically if the Education Department is dissolved. Funding for low-income schools and students with disabilities are both federal law, passed by Congress. Those services may technically be protected, but they could be put in the hands of the states with no federal guardrails.
Evan Stone used to teach at PS 86 in the Bronx and is now the CEO of Educators For Excellence.
"If we lose the department that is supposed to hold states accountable for that, we have no guarantees that that's how the dollars will be spent," Stone said. "Without these funds being guaranteed to get into communities, we will only see opportunity gaps widen even more."
Officially dissolving the Education Department would require 60 votes in the Senate, which is unlikely.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has signaled that at the very least there will be massive layoffs and cuts regardless, sending a memo to the department just hours after she was confirmed entitled "Our department's final mission."