What are the Funding Implications if the Department of Education is Eliminated?

If DOE and All Its Work Disappeared

Because the DOE is a congressionally created department acting out statutorily mandated policies, it cannot be eliminated by executive order. But if DOE were to be entirely dissolved, the financial effects could be significant. To get a top-level view of DOE operations related to use of funds, the chart below highlights the five largest line items in the Department’s 2024 budget.

If the DOE was eliminated and other federally available funding was not established, federal student loans and grants would likely no longer be accessible. About 8.7 million college students receive funds from programs like Pell Grants, TEACH Grants, Direct Loans, and Federal Work-Study. Title I grants supporting 26 million students in low-income K-12 schools would need funds from another source, as would special education funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Vocational rehabilitation grants for individuals with disabilities could be at risk. Smaller programs like GEAR UP (college preparation for low-income students), the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and services for neglected youth would end without replacement funding.

But Without Congress’ Support, What Can Really Happen to Funding?

Most major DOE programs — including Pell Grants, student loans, Title I, and IDEA — are authorized by federal law, not simply created by DOE. Eliminating the agency would not automatically eliminate these programs. Instead, their administration would likely transfer to other departments, like Treasury or Health and Human Services. If the funding currently allocated by the DOE to individual states were to be repurposed into open-ended grants to states and local school districts, then much of the financial impact of shutting down the DOE would be muted. However, there are no formal proposals to implement these changes.  

The executive order directed DOE to take steps to dismantle itself “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” But because DOE was created by an act of Congress, full elimination would require new legislation. Without Congressional cooperation, only administrative actions are possible. Such actions could still have major consequences. The Administration could weaken DOE’s functionality by cutting staff, slowing the enforcement of existing regulations, and underfunding student aid management.

It’s important to note that most education regulations are formulated at the state level. DOE enforces only a narrow set of federal rules, primarily tied to civil rights and funding conditions. Curriculum standards, teacher certification, and school operations remain under state and local control. A future brief will explore the non-financial implications and potential impact on test scores and related data highlighted in our brief regarding the quality of education in the U.S..

The Takeaway

If the Department of Education and its work disappeared overnight, the impacts would be significant for many college students and elementary and secondary students in Title I schools. However, these changes require the enactment of new legislation.

Without new acts of Congress, “eliminating” DOE will mostly mean bureaucratic reshuffling, potentially slowing, but not ending, major programs.

The broader implication is that federal agencies and established policies are often difficult to eliminate, requiring legislative action in addition to executive orders.  

It is difficult to know whether the full impact surrounding accessibility and quality of education in the U.S. would improve or worsen if the DOE was eliminated without further understanding if similar responsibilities, including funding, were administered at the state and local levels.