Missouri schools face uncertainty after Trump signs order to dismantle Education Department

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.

Completely shutting down the department would require an act of Congress, which established the agency in 1979. Trump officials admit they lack the votes needed to dissolve it through legislation.

The White House argues that since 1979 the Department of Education has spent over $3 trillion “with virtually nothing to show for it.” Some of the stats cited by the White House include: 

• Math and reading scores for 13-year-olds are at the lowest level in decades.
• Sixty percent of fourth graders and nearly three-quarters of eighth graders are not proficient in math.
• Seventy percent of fourth and eighth graders are not proficient in reading, while 40% of fourth-grade students don’t even meet basic reading levels.
• Standardized test scores have remained flat for decades.
• U.S. students rank 28 out of 37 OECD member countries in math.

The order is expected to instruct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take “all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states,” an administration official said ahead of the signing ceremony, which included Republican governors, state education officials and school children.

Missouri officials react

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) told ABC 17 News in February that eliminating the Department of Education won’t be much of a change in school funding across the state. 

“Fundamentally, the way this will work is trying to push more of the federal dollars to the states,” Schmitt said. “I think the states can figure this out better than the federal government. That’s where we see some of the abuses in some of this woke ideology”

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education tells ABC 17 it's still awaiting further information to understand how these potential changes may impact funding administered by DESE.

However other lawmakers have concerns. Congressman Wesley Bell (D-St. Louis) posted on social media that the executive order will have consequences. 

"If Trump orders the abolition of the Department of Education, it would gut Pell Grants, kill career training programs, and end student loan protections,” Bell wrote on X.  “A select few stand to benefit from stripping opportunity away from our children—and it's NOT the American people”

Federal funding accounts for approximately 8% of elementary and secondary education spending, including contributions from agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, which support programs such as Head Start and school lunches, according to the Education Department. In contrast, states primarily depend on local taxes to develop and approve school district budgets. Curriculum decisions are largely made at the local level by district officials.

Columbia Public Schools told ABC 17 News in a statement that the district is still "watching the developing information regarding how the federal government will be structured,” adding that it only receives approximately 6% of its funding directly from the federal government, while more than 60% of funding comes from local taxpayers.

"Obviously, there's a lot of concern that's expressed and felt  in terms of what this means for us both financially as well as programs.  But  it's not 100% clear exactly what that ends up looking like when that gets  brought down to the state level  and how that would affect us  locally," CPS superintendent Jeff Klien said. "We are considering and planning for what those different options would look like. And if we were to be affected by funding, how we would manage those those changes."