How much money do North Carolina public schools receive from the U.S. Department of Education?

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aiming to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

The move comes a little over a week after its workforce was cut nearly in half. State and local officials are working to determine what the impact will be on North Carolina’s public schools. 

While the department likely can’t legally be ended without congressional approval, State Superintendent Mo Green explained what its dismantling could mean for the public school system at a recent board of education meeting. 

“About $1.5 billion of North Carolina's Public Schools comes from the U.S. Department of Education annually," Green said. "The complete loss of this funding would be detrimental to students and result in loss of thousands of educator jobs.”

In a written statement, Green added that federal funding makes up about 11% of the state’s budget for public schools, largely going toward services for students with disabilities and children from low-income families. This funding also pays for about 8% of the state’s education workforce. 

Trump’s executive order states that the “delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” should remain uninterrupted. But it’s unclear what this will mean, given the layoffs of employees who helped to administer those services. 

What we do know is how much federal funding school districts in the Triad receive. In Guilford County Schools, it’s roughly 6% of the proposed 2025 budget at around $54 million. 

Superintendent Whitney Oakley was asked about how the potential federal cuts influenced financial planning at a recent press conference. 

“So I think we have to pay attention to what’s happened and what hasn’t happened yet," Oakley said. "But we are paying close attention, because we know we have to feed kids every day. We’re doing a really good job of that here. And of course, special education services, which our students have a constitutional right to.”

In Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, more than $45 million in federal funding accounted for 8% of the district’s budget in Fiscal Year 2023. About half of that was spent on employee salaries. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.