President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.

What exactly that means for the country — and Vermont — is an open question. 

The U.S. Congress created the Department of Education, and its dissolution requires the body’s approval. The courts have blocked or limited Trump’s attempts to shutter other offices in the federal government like the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

But the president’s declarations have had immediate impact, and about half of the Department of Education’s employees are already on their way out either through voluntary resignations or cuts, NPR reported. The downsizing has hit the department’s Office for Civil Rights particularly hard. 

A White House spokesperson told reporters Thursday the Department of Education would retain some responsibilities, including overseeing federal student loans. 

More than 78,000 Vermonters have student loan debt totalling nearly $3 billion, Vermont Public reported last year. Undergraduates at UVM receive almost $28 million in federal student loans, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and Vermont State University students receive almost $17 million. 

Last week, Anne Bordonaro, who leads the Vermont Agency of Education’s work on federal education programs, told lawmakers that the core federally funded education initiatives should escape “significant cuts” until at least the 2026-2027 school year. 

In fiscal year 2024, the Agency of Education received $493 million in federal funds, more than 90% of which it passed on as grants. Through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the state receives more than $68 million annually, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides another $37.5 million for Vermont’s schools, Bordonaro said, among other streams of federal dollars. 

But Bordonaro did not address how changes in Washington could impact state-level positions. More than 40% of the Agency of Education’s staff members — 73 employees— were paid using federal funds in fiscal year 2024, according to the agency’s annual budget book. 

Vermont has already lost some education-related funds, including $1.7 million in USDA grants that in part supported schools’ local food purchasing. 

In a brief email, Lindsey Hedges, an Agency of Education spokesperson, said Thursday that the agency expected to get “some additional information from our federal partners later today.”

The chairs of Vermont’s education committees, Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, and Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, both said they had not received communications from the Agency of Education on Thursday regarding the executive order.

U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., spent time in the statehouse on Thursday to discuss the federal impacts on Vermont’s state budget.