I think there are a lot of parents concerned that the extra help their child needs to be as mainstreamed as possible (think paraprofessionals) will be eliminated due to lack of funding.

I think there needs to be more transparency from whoever is now in charge of dismantling the DOE as to what exactly will be cut and how federal funds will be dispersed to the states after the dept of ed is shuttered.

Many in this group wouldn't care if academic 4-degrees went away entirely and universities shut down, but think about this: two year colleges in Alabama increasingly promote technical degrees, skilled certificates, trades, and workforce development. Without Federal financial aid, we close the doors to two-year colleges -- a part of higher education that is very non-political in my experience. The two year college teachers and administrators I have worked with over many years have been quite conservative in their worldview and dealings.

With no Federal financial aid, we stop teaching and training Nurses, EMTs, Paramedics, and many other medical professionals in Alabama. That's a dark, sad picture going forward with our aging population.

The state wouldn’t fund the community college system? I find it hard to believe that the community college system would cease to exist if the DOE ceases to exist.

The state partially funds the community college system, but we also rely substantially on student tuition. And for poor and working class students, much of that comes from Pell Grants via congressional approved funding. President Trump isn't consulting Congress on this move; he's just decided above their heads to do this thing.

Federally backed student loans are one of the main reasons secondary ed costs as much as it does. The whole system is flush with cash making it unnecessary for colleges to compete on price.