RALEIGH (December 3, 2025) – U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been on a media blitz lately, sharing the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education and shift responsibilities to other agencies and the states.
McMahon calls it “testing,” saying she’s confident the department’s programs can be administered more efficiently. So certain Department of Education functions will be shopped out to the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, State and Interior.
But President Trump’s overall aim is to make education the states’ responsibility, she says.
“It is his intention, clearly, to transfer education back to the states,” McMahon says.1
BUT THAT carries a price tag for North Carolina.
Federal funds count for about $1 of every $5 of North Carolina’s education spending.
So the federal cuts mean additional education expenses for North Carolina.
The Education Law Project projects that North Carolina would lose $200 million a year in federal funds out of $12 billion the administration proposes to cut from public education in FY2026. (The Project also has a tool to project the loss for each school district.)2
The cuts could affect teacher training, early literacy, after-school programs and any number of other supports for public education.
THAT’S YET another education burden headed North Carolina’s way, on top of:
- Embarrassingly low teacher pay,
- Deferred upkeep of school heating and air conditioning systems, and
- A pending decision from the state Supreme Court on a $5.6 billion plan to increase school funding over eight years in the long-simmering Leandro case.3
That’s one very big bill coming North Carolina’s way.
And with state revenues already projected to fall in 2026-27,4 it’s yet one more reason why North Carolina should not cut its personal and corporate income taxes now.
1 https://www.cbsnews.com/video/mcmahon-education-department-testing-transferring-programs/.
2 https://edlawcenter.org/research/trump-2-0-proposed-fy26-budget-cuts-school-districts/.
3 https://www.theassemblync.com/education/waiting-for-leandro/.
4 https://www.osbm.nc.gov/revised-consensus-revenue-forecast-may-2025/open.
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