One of President-elect Donald Trump’s most concrete campaign promises was his pledge to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. It’s not a new idea, but Maine education leaders say it would significantly impact the state’s most vulnerable students.

Maine schools get millions of dollars annually through the federal department, including $86 million this year for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and $68 million from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

“Eliminating the U.S. DOE would raise serious questions about the distribution of these funds, which serve some of our state’s most vulnerable students and are essential to ensuring consistent access to public education for all,” Maine Department of Education spokesperson Chloe Teboe wrote in an email.

Even as Trump announced his pick Tuesday to lead the department, possibly signaling it could remain for now, the state Legislature’s education chair warns that other Trump policies could have implications for other areas of Maine education as well, including free lunch and student vaccination policies.

“We have a Democratic governor, Democratic Senate, Democratic House, so there’s a certain amount of predictability and stability that we should have in in the state of Maine,” said Rep. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, who chairs the House Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs.

“But at the federal level now, when you start having a president actively campaign on ‘I’m going to get rid of the Department of Education,’ you assume that when they come into office, they’re least going to move in that direction in some way, shape or form. And then, as these policies devolve into states, the impact on the state is very unpredictable.”

FEDERAL FUNDING, LOCAL IMPACTS

The U.S. Department of Education is an important funder of programs that support fair and equitable education in Maine, Teboe said.

The ESEA programs help with funding for struggling students, professional development, English language learners, classroom technology and rural districts.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, pays for Maine’s efforts to provide “free and appropriate” special education for students with disabilities, and an early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Atlee Reilly, an attorney with Disability Rights Maine who advocates for education, said the loss of that funding would be devastating to students who already suffer in underfunded and understaffed special education programs.

“Schools in Maine are currently struggling, and in many cases failing, to meet the needs of students with disabilities,” Reilly said. “So any reduction in the resources that are provided by federal or state sources would really have negative impacts.”

However, he said even if the department disappears, other laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Maine Human Rights Act still require schools to provide an education for disabled students, and those obligations won’t go away even if the funding does.

“At the end of the day, the state and local taxpayers would have to ensure that schools have enough resources to educate all kids,” he said.

Gov. Janet Mills has been cautious in her reactions to Trump’s proposals. Spokesperson Scott Ogden said the governor’s goal is, and always has been, providing all Maine students with a high-quality education, regardless of where they live.

“The governor is monitoring the president-elect’s plans, and if the incoming administration advances a specific proposal, the governor will review and assess its impacts on Maine people, but she strongly hopes the federal government remains a partner to the state of Maine in educating our children,” Ogden said in an email.

TRUMP’S PROMISES

The Department of Education was created through an act of Congress in 1980, and it would likely require support of Congress – maybe even a Senate supermajority of 60 votes – to eliminate it. Trump isn’t the first to advocate for an end to the department; it was one of Ronald Reagan’s campaign promises, too.

In spite of that goal, Trump announced Tuesday night that he would nominate businesswoman Linda McMahon for secretary of education. McMahon was a co-founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE, and served as director of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.

She also chaired the Trump super PAC America First Action in 2020, helped found the think tank America First Policy Institute, and has been serving as co-director of the Trump-Vance transition team.

Trump’s transition team did not respond to specific questions Tuesday morning about his plans for eliminating the department, but said the president-elect plans to deliver on his promises.

“The American people reelected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement. “He will deliver.”

Trump also has made promises about other education-related priorities, including ending classroom discussions on gender and racism, banning diversity offices, and keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports.

His other Cabinet nominations – like his selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services – could also have implications for education policy.

OTHER IMPACTS

Brennan, the state lawmaker, said the loss of ESEA and IDEA funding would be a setback for Maine, but he’s also looking at impacts outside of the Department of Education.

Maine was the second state in the country to begin funding universal free breakfast and lunch for students, which the state Legislature approved in 2021. The state stepped in after a federal COVID-era program lapsed. That program carries a $34 million annual price tag for the state, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses Maine for student meals based on their free and reduced lunch status. About 38% of students qualified in 2021.

Brennan said if the political tide changes significantly, that USDA funding could be impacted.

“If somebody at the federal level said, ‘We don’t believe in free lunch,’ or ‘We want to dramatically change the lunch program for schools,’ the ripple effect would be significant,” he said.

Brennan also cited a Biden administration revision to Title IX that expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students and sexual assault victims. He worries it may face a rollback under Trump.

“Given the administration and what they talk about, I assume that’s going to be under attack,” Brennan said.

He said that law provides important guidance to universities about sex discrimination, sexual assault and gender in sports.

Brennan also said he’s concerned about the selection of Kennedy to lead HHS because of his staunch opposition to vaccines. Maine has greatly improved its school vaccination rate since the state eliminated religious and philosophical exemptions for kindergarten vaccination requirements in 2021. During the 2022-23 school year, just 0.8% of students opted out of vaccines, and last spring, the state announced it had achieved herd immunity.

“If Robert Kennedy comes in and says it’s no longer required to have vaccination in schools, the turmoil that could occur as a result of that would be significant,” Brennan said.

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