The Delta Issue #61
When the Federal Safety Net Disappears, State Leadership Matters Most
Hi all, Kunjan here.
The U.S. Department of Education is being gutted before our eyes.
As state leaders, we always say we want the federal government to get out of the way. There are lots of ways in which my job at the Louisiana Department of Education would have been easier with fewer federal rules and regulations.
But the unspoken truth is that — in addition to providing critical funding and protecting students’ civil rights — the feds often play an important role as a lightning rod for results-oriented state leaders. Effective policies aren’t always popular at first, and federal requirements can provide political cover for tough decisions.
While it’s uncertain if this latest round of layoffs will go through (a federal judge has temporarily halted them), they send a clear message to states: The federal role in public education is shrinking, and those functions aren’t coming back anytime soon.
States can’t afford to wait and see what happens. Governors and chiefs need to start planning for ways to stabilize funding, defend vulnerable students’ rights, and stand strong behind a vision for their states’ students.
Let’s get into it.
What’s Happening
As you may have read across the swamp of headlines, The U.S. Department of Education has laid off most of the staff in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), along with employees across many other divisions.
These layoffs are part of a government-wide reduction in force (RIF) ordered by the Trump administration — a move that, on paper, is about streamlining agencies but, in reality, has stripped away the many of the people who help keep public education running day to day.
Right now, state leaders have no clue if they’ll receive the federal funds they were promised, money that funds supplemental supports for students, from school lunches to literacy coaches. If there’s no one to manage reimbursements, it’s hard to imagine these reimbursements will happen.
In short, these layoffs mean more barriers, more confusion, and more energy spent chasing funds that should already be flowing.
What Governors Can Do Now
This is the moment for governors to step up, protect their students, and prove that their vision for education can hold without federal oversight.
- Assess the risks.
These RIFs may not stop federal dollars from flowing today, but they’re a warning sign. Between the shutdown, staffing cuts, and budget uncertainty, the federal education system is showing real signs of instability.
States need to take a clear-eyed look at what that means for them.
- How dependent is your state education agency on federal funds?
- What happens if reimbursements slow down — or if monitoring, approvals, and technical assistance take weeks instead of days?
For most state education agencies (SEAS), a large share of staff salaries are paid with federal dollars. In Louisiana, nearly half the SEA’s operating budget came from federal dollars.
Those same funds pay for literacy coaches, special education staff, and school improvement teams.
If this money stalls or in any way gets reduced, state chiefs will be left without the staff, expertise, or infrastructure they need to support schools.
- Keep the focus on students who will feel this first.
Federal laws ensuring supports for students with disabilities, English learners, and children from low-income families won’t disappear just because ED isn’t watching. Those legal protections will still exist, and states remain accountable for upholding them.
But in the absence of federal oversight or technical assistance, state education agencies will need to step up with their own resources, guidance, and monitoring. This moment is about ensuring states do their job — even when Washington isn’t watching.
Governors and chiefs should take a hard look at the tools they already have to do this, like:
- Making sure SEAs are equipped with the staff and resources to support schools and students most at risk ensuring they are served as required by federal law.
- Enforcing existing state laws that protect student rights and guarantee services for vulnerable groups.
- Strengthening or passing new laws where those protections fall short, especially around funding transparency, accountability, and access to critical services.
- Double down on the most important functions of the SEA.
Amid chaos, the job of the SEA — making sure kids are learning and thriving — doesn’t change. If anything, it becomes all the more important.
Governors should make sure SEAs have what they need to carry out their most essential functions and drive school improvement. This includes:
- Protecting funding for student assessments that help schools know where kids are and how to support them.
- Safeguarding literacy and math initiatives that directly improve outcomes, especially for early learners and struggling students.
- Maintaining data systems and accountability measures that keep the focus on student progress.
- Ensuring access to quality and opportunity among the most vulnerable learners, even as specialized federal resources for these groups become unreliable.
If states can hold the line on these core functions, they can keep students moving forward.
Let’s Get Muddy
- Earlier this month, we enlisted @Catherine Pozniak’s help to break down how federal dollars flow from Washington, to state agencies, to districts, and finally to classrooms.
- Watershed managing director @Jill Wohrle wrote a great post outlining what these new layoffs mean, and how they’ll affect the implementation chain.
- @Mark Lieberman wrote an informative piece in @Education Week about how these layoffs may threaten future funding.
