How the Education Department cuts could hurt low-income and rural schools

President Trump's efforts to shutter the U.S. Department of Education are in full swing.

On Thursday, he signed an executive action instructing U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education," and to do so "to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."

Before that, the department had already announced it was shrinking its workforce by nearly half, with cuts to all divisions.

Meanwhile, the administration has promised that "formula funding" for schools, which is protected by law, would be preserved. That includes flagship programs like Title I for high-poverty schools, and the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP), which sends money to rural and low-income schools.

But nearly all the statisticians and data experts who work in the office responsible for determining whether schools qualify for that money will soon be out of jobs, making it unclear how such grants would remain intact.

At the start of the year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) employed more than 100 people. On Friday, all but three employees will be placed on administrative leave, and eventually laid off. That's according to multiple NCES employees, who asked that their names not be used because they feared retaliation for speaking out. An internal email obtained by NPR also confirmed how many staff would remain.

"That will have an absolutely devastating impact," says Matthew Gardner Kelly, who studies the country's K-12 funding systems at the University of Washington. Since 1867, NCES has been a central, reliable source of information that helps educators, researchers and the public understand the state of education in the United States.

A student prepares to leave the Enterprise Attendance Center school in Brookhaven, Miss.

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Gardner Kelly says the loss of NCES staff will hit low-income schools especially hard.

"It's not just that loss of information, it's what will happen to a school district's budget in the absence of funds that can't be allocated without the necessary staff at NCES."

NPR reached out to the Department of Education for comment and did not hear back.

Federal grants are a lifeline for low-income and rural schools

The federal government only provides a fraction of the money that goes to schools—states and local governments are responsible for the lion's share of that funding. But the federal government plays an outsize role in helping high-needs schools get the money they need to stay afloat.

Congress established Title I to provide money to K-12 schools in low-income communities. In the current fiscal year, the Department of Education set aside more than $18.38 billion for Title I. Nearly 90% of U.S. school districts benefit from the program, which has historically enjoyed bipartisan support among lawmakers.

The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) awards money to low-income and rural school districts. More than a quarter of the country's public schools are in rural areas. And while REAP is a fraction of the size of Title I — $215 million for the current year – Amy Price Azano of Virginia Tech's Center for Rural Education says those dollars stretch much further in rural communities.

"We work with school districts that have 10 people in a graduating class. So when you're talking about enough money to get the one student who needed a paraprofessional to walk across that stage," a little bit goes a long way.

These federal grants can pay for things like school staff salaries, supplies, technology, tutoring programs and a range of basic services that low-income schools may not otherwise be able to afford.

NCES employees told NPR that the cuts to the Education Department likely won't impact REAP or Title I grants for the 2025-26 school year, but the fate of these grants beyond that seems incredibly uncertain.

NCES plays a critical role in getting federal dollars to high-need schools

Determining a school district's eligibility for REAP and Title I from one year to the next takes a lot of number crunching.

For grants that go to rural schools through the REAP program, NCES plays a direct role in creating the relevant data and providing assistance to local school leaders.

For Title I, NCES works with the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze school district boundaries, income levels and other characteristics that help the Department of Education determine grant eligibility.

But by the end of the day on Friday, all but three NCES staffers will be locked out of their computers and on administrative leave.

"The key issue is that – as things stand now -- the data needed to drive the next round of Title I, and grants to rural schools, and grants to other programs, isn't going to happen as a result of the cuts to NCES staff and contracts," said one former NCES employee.

Several employees told NPR that, after the layoffs, it is unlikely the REAP program will be able to get money to schools for the 2026-27 school year.

The same goes for Title I, with an added challenge: The Trump administration is poised to shrink the ranks of the Census Bureau. A reduction in its staff could further complicate the distribution of Title I funding.

A loss of oversight and guidance for local school leaders

Thursday's executive action lays out the Trump administration's goal of returning "authority over education to the States and local communities."

At a White House event on Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at closing the U.S. Education Department. He was surrounded by students sitting in desks and Republican governors.<br><br><br>

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But one of the key benefits of grants like Title I and REAP is that while the federal government, including NCES, determines which school districts are eligible, it is ultimately up to local leaders to decide how best to use that money.

NCES staff also provide expertise, oversight and guidance to ensure those leaders have what they need to plan budgets effectively for each school year.

William Sonnenberg, who is now retired, spent nearly five decades working on Title I for NCES until 2022.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say in a given year, I would get thousands of calls from local superintendents or other kinds of people at the school district or at the state level in Title I offices, asking for guidance," he says.

One NCES employee said, "Everyone acknowledges three people cannot come anywhere close to fulfilling statutory obligations."

Without data oversight and guidance from NCES, Sonnenberg worries federal grant money may not reach the low-income students who need it most.

Rural education expert Amy Price Azano says, while rural schools are used to having fewer resources, the loss of REAP funds will strain them even more.

"They're doing more with less anyway. And so the risk now is that they will have to be even more resilient. They will have to do even more with even less."

Reporting contributed by: Hansi Lo Wang
Edited by: Nicole Cohen and Lauren Migaki
Visuals by: Mhari Shaw
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