KSNV: How Department of Education cuts impact Southern Nevada schools

SOURCE

by Tiffany Lane

Wed, March 12th 2025 at 6:05 PM

Updated Mon, March 17th 2025 at 6:31 PM

President Donald Trump has taken steps toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, cutting about half the department's workforce.

When the president was inaugurated, the department had 4,133 workers.

Following Tuesday's actions, the workforce will have 2,183 workers, 600 of whom accepted voluntary resignation opportunities.

This is part of President Trump's plan to shrink the federal workforce and cut government spending, giving more power to the states.

The move could have a big impact in the Silver State and Clark County, the nation's fifth-largest school district.

As of right now, experts say funding is not impacted by the layoffs.

But operations will take a hit with every division in the department impacted.

"Unfortunately, what this kind of layoff situation ends up doing is creating a lot of inefficiencies," said Amanda Morgan, the executive director of Educate Nevada Now.

Morgan says reducing half of the U.S. Department of Education's workforce will have an immediate impact on the local level, including here in Southern Nevada.

"They investigate special education, they allocate those funds, they monitor those funds," she said. "They also do a lot of data analysis, collecting data, ensuring that states and districts are using funds correctly."

The U.S. Department of Education also has an Office of Civil Rights that handles discrimination claims.

On the higher education side, the U.S. Department of Education manages student loan debt, oversees the Pell Grant, and provides aid for students below a certain income.

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the eliminations are a step towards the president's overall goal.

"His directive to me is to shut down the Department of Education," said McMahon.

A move like that would require approval from Congress.

Morgan says if it passed schools would have devastating impacts.

Here is the amount of federal funding the Nevada Department of Education has received for the last few years:

FY2025 YTD - $311,127,456.37 - full year tracking equals $438,461,473.26

FY2024 YTD - $782,888,471.05

FY2023 YTD - $1,082,745,445.85

"Local Schools will see so many different things eliminated," said Morgan. "Think about school psychologists or counselors, classrooms for students with special education needs, you would eliminate staffing for those classrooms. A lot of support, tutoring, things like that."

She says two areas that would be heavily impacted are Title I and students who receive Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs.

An IEP is a written document or a "blueprint" that spells out the specific special education services, supports, and instruction a student with a disability will receive.

In the 2022-2023 school year 76% of CCSD schools shared Title I funding.

When it comes to IEPs, CCSD alone had more than 42,000 students with IEPs last school year.

As far as concerns with school breakfast and lunch programs, those are federally funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.