Up to $2 billion in federal aid New York City public schools rely on to support their most vulnerable students is on the line as President Trump’s plan comes into focus to dismantle the U.S. Education Department.
The aid has long provided targeted support for low-income schools and students with disabilities, among other popular education programs experts say are in the best interests of Congress, who Trump would need to fully execute his plan, to continue to fund.
Federal funding accounts for 6% of the city’s education budget, with other funding streams than the Education Department. A schools spokesperson said the city had not received guidance from the federal government about the potential impact on local programs or services, but will “closely monitor ongoing developments.”
“We’re potentially looking at federal cuts that contribute to $2 billion of our budget,” New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said at a hearing on the state education department last week, after the Trump administration tried to freeze federal funding through a separate executive action.
Since then, discussions have emerged from the White House of an order directing the education secretary to start winding down the Education Department. Trump would then call on Congress, which passed legislation in 1979 to create the agency, to abolish it.
As part of the early plans, some education programs could be administered by another federal agency, while others may be diminished or on the chopping block with congressional approval. Already, dozens of federal education officials have been placed on leave, who formerly worked in offices that disperse funds to K-12 schools or enforce civil rights laws.
On Friday, a group of U.S. House Democrats, including New York lawmakers, tried to force a meeting with top education officials on the plan to dismantle the department but were barred from entering their headquarters.
“Trump and Elon Musk want to destroy the Department of Education and jeopardize the futures of millions of children, from New York to every corner of the country,” Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) said on X, reposting a video of lawmakers being denied entrance to the building.
“We won’t let them get away with it. Our kids deserve better.”
The possible order would follow through on one of Trump’s campaign promises and a decades-long push by conservatives to phase out the agency, which they believe wastes taxpayer dollars and infringes on local control of public schools.
In addition to the existence of the department, some of its largest programs were thanks to Congress — including Title I funds for low-income schools and dollars allocated through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for special education. Both Title I and the disabilities act predate the Education Department.
Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, said the largest share of federal funding New York City schools receive is Title I, which gets funneled through the state — and to a lesser extent, from the disabilities act.
Last fiscal year, the city received $826 million in Title I funds and $417 million under the disabilities act, according to budget documents from the comptroller’s office.
“In theory, the president can’t arbitrarily cancel those awards or zero them out,” Pallas said. “They’re legal obligations that Congress has committed to, so I don’t think the money is going to go away.”
Even if funding streams are moved under other agencies, Pallas had concerns about the message that dismantling the Education Department could send.
“I’ve been comforted over the last 45 years having the bully pulpit, a cabinet-level person, who was speaking out on behalf of public education,” he said. “The dismantling of the department and the spreading of its functions across other agencies removes that. It weakens a collective commitment to public education if we don’t have a visible spokesperson in the secretary of education position.”
Some federal funding in New York City public schools comes from agencies other than the Education Department and would not be directly impacted by any attempts to dismantle it. However, programs run out of elsewhere in the federal government, such as child care and free lunch, could face cuts if Trump acts on a “wish list” of conservative priorities for his second term.
“Just to give a sense of the other big ones — because they’re not all Department of Education, and some others are named in Project 2025 — Head Start is another big one,” Emma Vadehra, a deputy chancellor and the district’s chief operating officer, said during the hearing. “Child Care and Development Block Grants, and also school food is another major funding stream from the federal government.”
David Bloomfield, a professor of education law and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, noted unpopular education budget cuts could give lawmakers, including Republicans, pause before going along with the president.
“The Republicans in Congress are dependent on retaining New York Republican seats,” Bloomfield said. “If the GOP is held responsible for cuts to school funding in those districts in New York State, those seats could be in jeopardy in 2026.”
But he encouraged state and city lawmakers to be prepared to backfill any lost federal funds.
“They should be planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” Bloomfield said.
With News wires