The best-case scenario for Wyoming if President Donald Trump eliminates the U.S. Department of Education is for federal school funding to go directly to the states, Megan Degenfelder, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
Outlets like the Wall Street Journal and NBC News have been citing “sources familiar with the plans,” in reporting that Trump is outlining an executive order telling the U.S. Secretary of Education to diminish the department through executive action — and he’ll push for Congress to abolish the department.
He promised to eliminate the department while on the campaign trail as well.
Degenfelder hasn’t yet received confirmation from a Trump staffer, though she’s seen the media reports.
“I have not heard anything as of today, but I’m hopeful that’s to come, based on promises he made during the campaign,” said Degenfelder.
Education resources should be allocated at the local level, with the states determining their own rules for federal funding uses, she said.
She said it’s her hope that the rules and “red tape” the federal Department of Education (DOE) has affixed to federal funding will vanish, but the money will be allocated in a block-grant model directly to states.
Excluding pandemic-related Education Stabilization Funds, about $120 million, or 5.7% of the $2.1 billion in total revenue received by Wyoming school districts in fiscal year 2024 came from U.S. Department of Education federal fund, according to data Degenfelder’s office provided Tuesday.
A Little History
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which ensures free education to all disabled students and lists regulations and standards for the attached federal funding was passed in 1975 – predating the U.S. Department of Education by four years.
Congress narrowly passed legislation creating the DOE in 1979. It opened in 1980 with 6,400 employees.
President Ronald Reagan tried without success in the early 1980s to abolish the department, which he called a “bureaucratic boondoggle.”
The department grew over the next four decades, spending $68 billion in 2008. It spent $268 billion in 2024, according to USAFacts.org.
Trump campaigned on a promise to close it, saying it has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
Dustin Hunt, Superintendent of the Hot Springs County School District, said Wyoming schools are in an uncertain position right now, and he and others are watching for greater direction.
Trump has been busy since his inauguration, dispatching numerous executive orders and directing the new Department of Government Efficiency to cut federal spending.
Hunt said he’ll watch for more information on the possible DOE elimination, but for now doesn’t know what form that would take.
But he and others are keeping an even keener eye on the Wyoming Legislature, which is contemplating bills to let local school boards allow their schools to hire administrators and teachers who don’t have teaching certificates, to allocate $7,000 per child for universal school choice, among other major changes.
Hunt said he believes most public-school workers support the idea of school choice, but don’t want to see universal school choice vouchers distributed without an adequate check of accountability on the private schools to which they may be routed. It’s also still uncertain how the school-choice program would impact the existing public schools, which tend to perform well on a national basis, he said.
Wyoming achieved the highest composite ACT scores among states that require the test, Degenfelder’s office announced in October.
Wyoming legislators have proposed so many bills this session seeking to alter the state’s schools, it’s tough for educators to stay in touch with lawmakers and address all their concerns right now, Hunt said.
Federal maneuvers simply pile onto that, he said.
Nobody Freak Out
The Trump White House last week dispatched a memo announcing a federal funding freeze, which spooked educators.
The administration clarified two days later that the freeze would not affect Title I, IDEA or other formula grants.
Goshen County School District Superintendent Ryan Kramer was, during those two days like so many others, scrambling to see what would become of his schools’ programs without the federal dollars.
But when the Trump administration issued its clarification, that frenzy calmed down.
Kramer said he’s looking at the possible DOE cuts or elimination through the new outlook that experience gave him: don’t panic until you know all the details, and even then, just do your best to serve your kids with what you have.
“It wouldn’t change the commitment to the education we provide for our students,” said Kramer. “And advocating for policies that benefit our students and working with legislators to try to figure out what those needs would be, to best serve the students in our community.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
