Every student has the right to a high-quality education and to learn in an environment that helps them thrive. An equitably resourced public education system is the cornerstone of a strong society and produces many health, social, and economic benefits for all of us.

For two groups of students facing additional barriers to education equity—students with disabilities and students from families with low incomes—federal funding has played a vital role in providing access to resources. And for others from marginalized groups, federal funding provides important  civil rights protections in public schools.

Unfortunately, proposals to eliminate federal funding from North Carolina’s public schools threaten to undo hard-fought gains while giving schools more leeway to discriminate against students of color and LGBTQ+ students.

Rejecting these vital resources and civil rights protections would only harm North Carolina’s students.

The War on Poverty and the history of federal funding

In recent decades, the federal government has provided about 10 percent of funding for public schools. The federal share has increased in recent years due to an injection of federal funding that’s helping students bounce back from the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that funding expires in September of this year.

Federal funding for public schools originates from President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. As a result, federal funding largely focuses on vulnerable student populations such as students with disabilities and students from families with low incomes.

Source: NC Department of Public Instruction

The major categories of federal funding are:

• Title I: Title I funding is designed to help schools support students experiencing poverty. In the 2023-2024 school year, North Carolina public schools received $528 million from Title I. Each student from a family with a low income benefits from approximately $2,220 of federal funding.
• IDEA: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted in 1975 to provide students requiring special education services with the equivalent of 40 percent of the nationwide average per-pupil cost of K-12 education. In 2023-2024, North Carolina public schools received $388 million, or the equivalent of about 14 percent of the average per-pupil cost of K-12 education. Each student with a disability benefits from between $1,799 and $2,280, depending on their grade level.
• Child Nutrition: The federal government reimburses schools for meals served. Federal reimbursement subsidizes all school meals. Reimbursement rates allow students from families or communities with low incomes to receive reduced or free-price meals. North Carolina received approximately $531 million in child nutrition funding last year.

Other smaller federal funding streams support English learners, students experiencing homelessness, career and technical coursework, teacher training, and other efforts. In recent years, federal money has also allowed North Carolina’s student test scores to rebound from pandemic-era lows. Last year, this funding helped public school students make historic gains in their math and reading scores.

How would rejecting federal funding hurt public schools?

Devastating financial cuts that would fall hardest on marginalized students

Rejecting federal funds means slashing already-underfunded school budgets by approximately 10 percent. It would mean firing seven percent (6,436) of all classroom teachers, 21 percent (4,659) of all teacher assistants, and 15 percent (2,810) of all instructional support personnel (nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc.).

These cuts would fall hardest on students with disabilities and students from families with low incomes. If federal funding is rejected, supplemental funding for students with disabilities would be slashed by 26 percent. Supplemental funding for students with low incomes would be slashed by 53 percent.

Cuts wouldn’t fall equally across districts. Districts serving students with the greatest needs would experience bigger budget cuts than districts that have more resources and fewer students from low income families. For example, Halifax County would see its operating funds slashed by 19 percent, while Chapel Hill/Carrboro would experience a cut of just 3.6 percent. A table showing the estimated impact of rejecting federal funds on each school district can be found here.

Such disproportionate, inequitable cuts would undoubtedly exacerbate the state’s persistent racial and economic opportunity gaps. If this policy were pursued, the average white student would see their district’s budget cut by 9.5 percent. The average Black student’s district would cut funding by 10.4 percent. Students experiencing poverty would see their district’s funding cut by 10.6 percent, while students not experiencing poverty would experience an average cut of 9.7 percent.

And what would happen to the $1.7 billion of federal funds that North Carolina received this past year if lawmakers rejected it? The federal government would send that money to other states. North Carolina taxpayers would be subsidizing students in other states while our students languish in under-resourced and inequitably funded schools.

Loss of civil rights protections

Policymakers considering the rejection of federal funding say they oppose federal funding for schools because “there is an expectation that we are going to push an agenda that comes from (the federal government), and that comes with strings.”

The same policymakers seldom explain what those “strings” actually are: civil rights protections for students on the basis of race, sex, and disability.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs operated by recipients of federal funds, including public schools.
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs receiving federal funds.
• The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination based on disability in any program operated by recipients of federal funds, including public schools.

These protections helped drive the desegregation of public schools in the 1970s and 1980s. They opened public education to students with disabilities who previously had been denied educations. They have helped protect women from harassment and sexual assault while opening doors such as access to sports.

Federal civil rights protections continue to provide North Carolina students with vital benefits. For example, in 2023, the Office of Civil Rights helped Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools identify and address racial disparities in suspension rates. The Office also stepped in to address sexual discrimination in Nash County Public Schools after district staff appeared to blame girls for the harassment they experienced. The intervention has improved district efforts to combat sexual harassment going forward. In 2022, the Office ensured that a Wake County student with a disability was provided supports so that they could participate in extracurricular activities.

North Carolina must reject this misguided policy proposal

Ultimately, there’s no excuse for policymakers to pursue such an extreme and destructive idea. Similarly extremist legislators in Tennessee, Utah, and Oklahoma have looked into this idea, only to be thwarted by pressure from their constituents and their more reasonable colleagues.

North Carolinians should similarly reject such ideas here.