The Trump administration’s efforts to abolish the U.S. Department of Education leave important questions about balance. What happens to all the federal funds sent from Washington to my local school district?
Texas public schools received approximately $14 billion from the federal government between 2022 and 23. This is the latest year with available data, with most money covering student diets, higher child support, pandemic recovery.
Federal money is a small but important part of the pie, as school budgets are already tense in Texas, and some have not seen a significant increase in state funding for years, leading to rising costs due to inflation.
Trump administration leaders have vowed to return power and money to the state more than education, but have not decisively said they will support maintaining current funding levels. Congress will largely decide on federal funds that need to approve the elimination of the education sector, and will have a big say in the future of Washington’s role in education.
Here’s what’s at risk for Texas schools and how much federal money will flow to them:
Total status
The Texas Educational Institution’s main income and expenditure tracker divides its budget into two large categories.
It has “general funds” that covers daily school operations costs, including employee salaries, building maintenance and transportation. Federal funds accounted for 4% ($2.2 billion) of general funds between 2022 and 23.
Second, in addition to general funds, there are “all funds” that cover several other types of revenue and expenses. These include federal funds to serve school lunches, low-income and pandemic stimulus support students. Adding these other revenues, federal funding was 20% of all school funding, or $14.1 billion.
Pandemic bump
Federal funding for Texas schools was relatively stable several years before the pandemic, hovering around $6 billion to $7 billion.
But that total doubled after Congress sent billions of dollars in relief funds to local school districts in the first years after the pandemic. The school must have spent the available pandemic stimulus packages by early 2025. So federal support for Texas schools is approaching pre-pandemic levels this year.
Local exterior
On average, Texas schools received around $2,600 per student between 2022 and 23. However, federal funding for school districts differed based on factors such as student poverty level and other demographic information.
These factors explain why districts like Aldine and Houston ISD, which serve high stocks in students from low-income families, received far more federal funding than high-income districts such as Conroe and Katy ISD.
A new strategy?
Trump’s motivation to dismantle the Department of Education is rooted in returning education management to the state. One of his strategies is block grants.
Block grants allow the federal government to instead specify large amounts of funding for a particular state project, instead, in exchange for funding programs through national agencies. This gives Trump more freedom to states, a strategy he previously proposed to overhaul Medicaid funds in 2020.
Advocates argue that by shifting federal programs’ funding to block grants, the state can give them more control and tailor the program to local needs. However, critics argue that there is no accountability necessary for state agencies to manage these funds without overseeing grants.
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