Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey addressed members of the Alabama State Department of Education Board during a work session on Thursday to clarify how federal cuts at the U.S. Department of Education would impact the state.
Questions began rising after the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that it would lay off over 1,300 of its more than 4,000 employees.
“People have asked if I’m concerned. As long as the money flows, we’re going to be fine,” said Mackey. “We just need the federal money that our schools have been promised because that is about 10 percent of our budget that comes from the federal government.”
Mackey ensured the board that there had been no discussion about federal funds not flowing to the schools and that the state had access to funds set aside to mitigate short-term holes in funding.
With fewer people employed at the Department of Education, Mackey explained that the state might have to change some communicative procedures, but at the moment, they were still unaware as to who has been let go at the Department of Education.
“They assign a person who answers questions for our federal programs. We have a regional person who might have several states. My assumption is if they’re cutting their staff in half, and I used to have five states, I might now have ten to answer to,” said Mackey.
He explained that while the Department of Education will be reduced, with some functions likely being moved to other agencies, the core functions should remain consistent in the state.
“Our core programs are IDEA, our special ed, and ESEA, Title I, II, III and IV, and I have not heard any rumors, haven’t read anything in the paper that says that those are going to be either reduced or moved to a new agency,” said Mackey.
Funding decreases to these core programs would require congressional approval. So far, the only program impacted is an ancillary Department of Agriculture program which was cut earlier this week, the “farm-to-school” program.
Before this program was canceled, Alabama received $16 million in federal funding that allowed schools to buy fresh produce from local farmers to serve in cafeterias.
“Again, it does not mean that our kids won’t get food. They’ll get food, they’ll get plenty of food, it’ll meet all the criteria, but it may not be farm-to-school,” said Mackey.
On Wednesday, Gov. Kay Ivey said she was “all for shrinking government where we can.”
“And truth be known, every state has an education department. I know we’ve got a good one and a state board of education and local boards that can handle education very well. I am going to trust President Trump on this one,” said Ivey.
