Missouri School Boards’ Association advises districts spend federal money amid looming Department of Education layoffs

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Education Department said Tuesday it plans to lay off more than 1,300 employees in an effort to cut its staff in half, according to the Associated Press.

This comes in preparation of President Donald Trump's plan to dismantle the agency. The announcement has raised questions about how the cuts could affect school districts. The Missouri School Boards' Association said it is "closely monitoring" potential changes.

“Immediately, our greatest concerns are possible slowdowns of money transfers," Missouri School Boards' Association Senior Director of School Finance Linda Quinley said. "Either a slowdown or shutdown is going to potentially impede how quickly schools are reimbursed in Missouri for their federal spending program.”

Quinley said federal grants in public education are usually reimbursement grants. This means the district needs to spend the money and claim the reimbursement before it will be paid back.

“A lot of our districts are highly reliant on being reimbursed immediately after they've spent those federal program dollars, such as Title I or IDEA,” Quinley said.

Title I provides money to schools with large populations of low-income students and IDEA provides money for educating students with disabilities. Quinley said fewer staff could lead to a slowdown in reimbursements.

"Those are big parts of a school district's budget," Quinley said. "So, just slowing down that reimbursement might pinch our districts in a cash flow situation."

She said MSBA has advised districts to spend their funds and get claims for reimbursement filed quickly to ensure funds arrive as soon as possible.

And while federal allocations for next school year are expected to be normal, Quinley said the year after is a worry.

“That [2026-2027 school year onward] is a little up in the air right now," Quinley said. "And so we [MSBA] are concerned that there could be reductions or adjustments to those [allocations]. We haven't been told that yet, but it's something we're advising our districts to be kind of conservative about.”

Quinley said this conversation could be entirely different a year from now.

“They'll [school districts] be deciding how they meet the needs of high needs students, those who are coming from poverty situations, our special education students, students who need just a little extra support in the classroom every single day," Quinley said. "Federal programs support that at a really high level.”

She said future federal funding cuts would leave districts to figure out how to use local resources to continue those services.

“We don't want schools to go into a panic at this point," Quinley said. "But next spring, we're going to be really carefully watching and planning."

MBSA said as allocations hit, it is ready to help districts quickly adjust budgets, if needed. Columbia Public Schools told ABC 17 News it is also monitoring federal announcements.

"The district, like many across the country, is watching the developing information regarding how the federal government will be structured," CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said in an email.

CPS said it receives about 6% of its funding directly from the federal government. The majority -- more than 60% of funding -- comes from local taxpayers.