U.S. Department of Education
In 1867, President Andrew Jackson signed legislation creating the Department of Education, and the following year, the department was demoted to the Office of Education to address worries that the newly created agency would exert too much control over local schools. When the Department of Education was created, it had a budget of $15,000 and employed four people. The primary responsibility of the department was to collect statistical information to help advise national educators. In 1979, the Department of Education became a cabinet-level department, and today, it has a budget of $268 billion. As you may be aware, President Trump has expressed an interest in dissolving the U.S. Department of Education and sending the money to the states. We will wait to see what happens at the federal level regarding school funding. I have received questions from stakeholders wanting to know what would happen to our district if the U.S. Department of Education were to be dissolved. In an effort to address this question, I would like to show specific line items of federal revenue we receive in our district; they are as follows:
SRSA Federal Grant (Teacher salaries) $18,529
ESSER II ARP (HVAC Architect fees for KHS) $4,779
GEER (Used to help with student lunch dept) $5,244
Forests Reserve (Moved to general fund) $42,706
IDEA Preschool (Teacher and para-educator) $22,321
IDEA School Age (Teacher and para-educators) $315,211
Title I (Teachers and para-educators) $154,044
TItle II-A (Teacher Quality) $36,393
Title III-A (English Language Learners) $1,439
Title IVA (Student prevention) $19,629
Food Service (Free & Reduced student lunch) $460,700
$1,081,995 Total
As you can see from the federal revenue above, the largest program is student food service, which covers the cost of free and reduced lunch. Overall, federal revenues are approximately 3% of the total district budget. It is important to note that if the U.S. Department of Education closes and we do not receive federal funding, we may need to make adjustments to programs and personnel, but we will hold school, and our doors will remain open.