Michigan Democratic lawmakers decry proposed Department of Education changes

• Democratic lawmakers in Michigan are criticizing the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the U.S. Department of Education, including potential funding cuts.
• They argue that these changes could harm vulnerable students, particularly those with disabilities, who rely on federal funding for support services.

A group of Democratic state lawmakers, joining a chorus of education advocates, decried the Trump administration’s whirlwind sweep of the U.S. Department of Education in a news conference Friday.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak; state Rep. Kelly Breen, D-Novi, and state Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, said they were raising the alarm about federal education funding at stake in Michigan during the news conference at a union hall in Southfield.

The Democrats were reacting to a slew of changes and the Trump administration’s proposed elimination of the federal Education Department. In recent days, the department under Trump has moved to slash nearly $1 billion in research contracts, a court has temporarily barred the department from allowing Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing sensitive student data and civil rights investigations have stalled. The state lawmakers also criticized Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department, Linda McMahon, the subject of U.S. Senate confirmation hearings this week.

“What we heard confirmed our worst fears,” McMorrow said. “McMahon is grossly unqualified and fundamentally out of touch with the needs of students.”

Only Congress can eliminate the department with a supermajority of votes, so advocates are skeptical that will happen. Instead, critics say they are fearful that the institution will be weakened, particularly in areas such as education research and support for students with disabilities. McMorrow said she hopes that an outcry from constituents will put pressure on the administration to minimize the impact.

“If your child is in a special needs program, if your child has an IEP, if you want that program protected, call your local official, your state official, and your federal official because at the end of the day, they work for us,” she said.

McMorrow and Koleszar, in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, said they were particularly concerned about the major funding streams that support students with disabilities and other vulnerable children.

“These are our most vulnerable kids,” Koleszar said. “What happens to those kids? This is something that could legitimately harm the kids who need support the most.”

Breen said the most recent move to axe federal research grants will hurt local schools by clouding efforts to understand whether children are effectively learning.

“We are not talking about a hypothetical worst case scenario here,” she said. “The damage has already started. … It has taken a meat cleaver to the entire educational system when they should be using a scalpel.”

The lawmakers said they felt Trump’s administration has misled constituents into thinking federal officials help set school curricula, which actually falls on local school boards in Michigan.

Federal funding accounts for about 10% of the money, about $2.3 billion, that goes to state public education. The largest chunk of that federal money is Title 1 funding, meant to boost schools that serve the highest proportions of disadvantaged students, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is federal law. Funding for it, and the law itself, would not be eliminated through an executive action eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, according to the School Superintendents Association. Michigan schools received about $460 million in federal funding for special education in 2024, about 15% of the funding for special education services, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.

While the lawmakers outlined what’s at stake, they said minimizing funding cuts at the state levels would be difficult, with $2.5 billion in the state’s rainy day fund.

“If some of what Trump is calling for were to go through that would be wiped out immediately and would only cover us for one year,” McMorrow said.

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.