Thursday, March 27, 2025
The Trump administration’s recent announcement that they are working on an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education has caused ripples through the academic world, with very little clarity on what the dissolution of the federal agency would look like.
Local superintendents and school leaders on the North Shore have expressed varying levels of concern at the potential loss of federal aid, but say they are remaining focused on ensuring their students continue to receive the best education the districts can offer.
The Department of Education was founded in 1979 during the Carter administration. It’s responsible for monitoring and establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, collecting and disseminating data on America’s schools, focusing national attention on the need for education reform, and ensuring equal access to education.
While the department does not directly interact with school districts on a day-to-day basis and has little oversight over the curricula at schools in New York (which is handled by the state’s Education Department). It does provide a wide range of funding that supports low-income, special education and disabled students across the country.
At the North Shore School District, which receives nearly $3.4 million in federal funding annually according to the National Center for Education Statistics, Superintendent Chris Zublionis explained that while the district’s educational standards wouldn’t change if the department was dissolved, it’s unclear how much of their funding would be lost or if that revenue would instead be funneled through the state.
“Day to day it’s unclear,” Zublionis said. “We worry about losing some funding, and we’re working to estimate if there is a loss of funds what that could be.”
One aspect of school life which could be directly impacted would be North Shore’s federally subsidized lunch program, according to Board President Andrea Macari. The lunch program, which the district has spent the last four years ensuring serves produce almost exclusively from New York State, caters to nearly 1,600 students daily across the five schools in the district.
Furthermore, Macari said that another area of concern would be the impact on special education students in the district. While she emphasized that at this time it’s still unclear how much funding could be lost, it’s still a cause for concern.
“Here at North Shore, we are deeply committed to educating all students, and that won’t change regardless of what happens,” Macari emphatically said. “But we know that the federal government is a source of funding for special education, so anytime there’s a threat to that it does worry us.”
At the neighboring Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District, Superintendent Francesco Ianni pointed out that no major details of the plan to dissolve the department have been released, making it hard to plan for potential losses. He explained that if the Trump administration chooses to shift the federal payments to the state level, then the impact may be manageable. The district is still concerned about losing some of its grants and federal funding, which could impact staff development, student support and even the district’s nascent preschool program.
Of particular concern would be the loss of Title 1, 2, 3 and 4 federal grant programs allocated to school districts. Title 1 is primarily focused on supporting schools with high concentrations of low-income students, while Title 2 focuses on teacher and principal development, Title 3 on English Language Learners, and Title 4 on comprehensive school improvement initiatives, including student support services and well-rounded education programs.
“If the elimination of the department will lead to the elimination of the grants, that would cost us around probably $600,000 (annually),” Ianni said, with grant money representing roughly a fifth of the nearly $3 million the school receives from the federal government annually according to the National Center for Education Statistics. “So, if you’re looking at a price tag of that much, it would have an impact.”
These district leaders said that they are used to operating under certain levels of uncertainty, with Zublionis pointing out that the districts often have to deal with a wide range of orders, decisions, and mandates from multiple state and federal departments, often with a similar lack of clarity.
One constant, according to these district leaders, is the unending focus on providing students with the best education possible. Regardless of what changes may come, they expressed confidence that they are prepared to make sure their students continue to succeed academically, athletically, and in every other aspect of learning.
“It’s hard because we’re dealing with the unprecedented and the unknown,” Zublionis said. “Oftentimes that lack of clarity is our biggest foe.”
