Local school officials discuss impact of dismantling US Dept. of Ed

FITCHBURG — The feedback provided at the roundtable discussion held at Monty Tech on Friday morning was clear — dismantling the U.S. Department of Education would wreak havoc on schools and students in North Central Mass. in many tangible ways.

And the discussion couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time — not even 24 hours since President Donald Trump made the decision to sign the executive order to dismantle the federal department.

“We didn’t know how timely this roundtable would be,” said Congresswoman Lori Trahan, who hosted the roundtable discussion. “I couldn’t have imagined that the timing would be the morning after. I figured we would get ahead of this.”

The March 21 event at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School drew a large number of superintendents and representatives from universities and community colleges in the greater region, discussing the potential impacts that the Trump Administration decision will have on their schools and students.

 

Congress created the Department of Education in 1979 and from a legal standpoint, the Constitution doesn’t give the president the power to shut it down by executive order alone. Winchendon Public Schools Superintendent Marc Gosselin said that he was “struck when I saw the executive order come down” and was floored by something the president said in regard to the reason behind dismantling the Department of Education.

“‘Because the system isn’t working,’” Gosselin quoted Trump. “He never attended public schools himself…I wonder if he’s ever stepped inside a public school.”

He went on to say that they are seeing “higher rates of suicidal ideation” in students and that “what we are facing are challenges that will have huge impacts.” Gosselin noted they are one of many school districts in the state and country “that rely heavily” on educational funding — and that the move to dismantle the Department of Education is “ludicrous, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible. I hope the Democrats can fight against this.”

Ashburnham Westminster Regional School District Superintendent Todd Stewart expressed that “the framing of this, particularly in the news cycle, is wrong” — and that dismantling the Department of Education has nothing to do with “returning power to the states” as the president and his administration is touting.

“We have the most decentralized education system in the world. Education already belongs to the state,” said Stewart, adding that the Department of Education “is not a micromanaging organization” and is an important “safeguard for our most vulnerable kids.”

Trahan opened the meeting by thanking everyone for coming and said, “I really wish we were here under different circumstances.” She said “going after the Department of education…when what we do in Washington, D.C. is setting up our kids for success” will be detrimental in many ways, especially as “mental health has hit crisis proportions” among youth.

She mentioned DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk, who is not an elected official — and how it is “becoming a household name.”

“They started an all-out attack on our programs,” Trahan said, giving examples of DOGE “freezing billions of dollars in funding,” including DEI, food assistance program cuts, and more, and “the ripple effects” of those cuts.

“These discussions are helpful to help us get on the same page as far as consequences,” she said. “[This] will not only have immediate and far reaching but enduring consequences across the country.”

“Municipal budgets are tight right now,” Trahan said. “We need more investments in education, certainly not less.”

Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School Superintendent Tom Browne sat beside the congresswoman and said he was grateful “to have this opportunity to have this conversation.”

“I am literally having paraprofessionals stopping me in the hallway asking ‘Tom, am I going to have a job?’ When that happens, that’s a scary thing.”

Middlesex Community College (MCC) President Phil Sisson reported that the federal grant program they utilize, which is now on the chopping block, has enabled them to increase student retention by 80% before MCC Director Colleen Winn provided her input.

Winn spoke about hearing student testimonials about the “critical funding” that for many is a “lifeline” to help them further their education, and thereby improving their quality of life, and how they “made me cry.”

“My huge concern is for our students. I am so proud of them,” she said before sharing that her ancestors came over from Ireland with just the clothes on their backs.

Mount Wachusett Community College President Jim Vander Hooven also spoke about the students they support and how educational funding “is important not only for K through 12, but also community colleges.”

He said that while “there are certain things I am less concerned about…what I am most concerned about are the ongoing grant opportunities that give us the opportunity to serve our students.”

Director of Admissions & Counseling at Greater Lawrence Technical School Brenda Richardson said dismantling the Department of Education “impacts the most vulnerable students” such as low-income students, and that taking away support services provided for students such as reading specialists and psychologists could change “the trajectory of their lives.”

“It’s heartbreaking to think it might be taken away,” she said after disclosing that 80% of their students “came in reading below grade level.”

Clinton Public Schools Superintendent Steven Meyer said dismantling the Department of Education is going to make it so individual states “don’t have to give that money to the most vulnerable populations.”

“Those obligations, whether they are legal or just moral, don’t go away if that funding goes away,” he said.

Nashoba Regional School District Superintendent Kirk Downing also referenced morality, noting they are facing “a moral and ethical failure that we have to fight.”

“We are going back in time,” he said.

Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School Superintendent Ernie Houle praised Trahan for her unwavering support of the communities she serves and called her “a voice in action.”

“Decisions are being made without a clear, logical thought process,” he said, adding that dismantling the Department of Education “is detrimental to making America great again,” referencing the tag line Trump ran his presidential campaigns on.

“It’s a backwards thought process. You would think you’d want to invest more money in education,” Houle said.

He talked about the Commonwealth having “a pretty robust and forwarding thinking education program,” but that “it’s not the same across the country.”

“Massachusetts continues to be an innovator,” Houle said.

When Trahan asked everyone to provide specific examples of what would happen if educational funding “goes away,” many who responded voiced the same concern — they need more assistance, not less.

“This is a bait and switch,” Gosselin said of the president and his administration shuttering many federal departments, including the Department of Education. “The money is just being shifted, there is no savings. This is by design to destabilize the schools, and they want the system to collapse. The impacts of this are going to be profound.”

Vander Hooven had similar sentiments and reported that if supports such as short-term loans for students that are used for housing, childcare, transportation and such, “go away, we are right back to square one…[and] cannot help these students.”

Gardner Public Schools Superintendent Mark Pellegrino said cutting educational funds will greatly impacts students who “are already traumatized by COVID” and that teachers are another “traumatized portion.”

“This is going to make the teacher shortage even more glaring,” Pellegrino said of the cuts, adding that he believes “the quality of educators” will decline along with the money.

Trahan called that “the ripple effect” that will negatively impact “the incredible success of public schools.” She spoke about other federal departments being dismantled and the process of how the administration is going about doing so is “illegal and it’s been stopped in court” in some instances.

“We’ve got legal standing there, but you can imagine that same thing happening to the Department of Education,” she said.

“The only time this has been done successfully was under a democratic president,” said Trahan of trimming federal spending and the budget under President Bill Clinton, who also did “a national agency review of all of our departments, but it was very precise, it wasn’t just this cudgel to departments.”

“There is a right and wrong way to do this,” she said of the drastic cuts that have already been made in the eight weeks since Trump officially took office. “We’re not just fighting for Massachusetts here.”

Browne noted that the majority of the 18 towns and cities Monty Tech students hail from “were going into finance meetings” this month.

“When you sit down with the local folks you really understand how bad it is,” he said. “There is not a single person at this table who are throwing money around…good luck trying to find that ‘waste and fraud’…we all want to find solutions.”

He continued by saying he hopes the people who voted for Trump are beginning to realize “the disconnect between Project 2025 and what’s being shoved down their throats.”

Trahan said that “on a very personal level, I cannot fathom these cuts.” She said that she herself was fortunate to get a scholarship for college along with Pell grants, “a portfolio of funding,” and that she recently signed her daughter’s 504 plan.

Downing said he had to make a cut of 20 positions in his district just this year and that when staff, teachers, and administrators ask him what is going to happen, “I have to tell people I don’t know what’s coming.”

“My biggest concern is having some clarity about what’s happening so we can make a plan,” he said. “It is the uncertainty of what’s happening that is driving the fear. That’s not a healthy environment.”