Maine teachers and school leaders are concerned about the impact that cutting the U.S. Department of Education could have on schools here following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the federal administration to move forward with plans for downsizing.

They said Tuesday that the ruling could jeopardize access to critical support and programs for students, though there are still questions about how it will play out.

“It is difficult to determine the full impacts of the Supreme Court’s decision on Maine schools, as we do not yet know the timeline of the move and any future potential legal action,” said Robbie Feinberg, a spokesperson for the Maine School Management Association, in a written statement Tuesday.

The association is a nonprofit federation of school boards and superintendents.

“We expect a reduced U.S. DOE workforce would add more work for the Maine Department of Education in helping local school districts navigate federal grants and requirements,” Feinberg said. “Maine school leaders remain concerned about funding for (special education), the capacity of the federal Office for Civil Rights, and the administration’s current freeze on certain Title funds used for improving instruction and academic success.”

The Trump administration is poised to effectively dismantle the Education Department by significantly reducing its workforce after the court ruled Monday that it could proceed with layoffs and an executive order issued in March directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps” permissible under the law to close the department.

The order is technically temporary, as it applies only to a freeze on the administration’s actions that had been put in place while an underlying challenge to Trump’s plans proceeds.

A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education said Tuesday that the agency “continues to closely monitor developments at the U.S. Department of Education.”

Historically, the federal Education Department has provided federal funding to states for work including special education services, services for disadvantaged and at-risk students, state assessments, professional development for teachers, and after school and summer programming, among other things, according to Maine DOE spokesperson Chloe Teboe.

In addition to the Maine School Management Association, the Maine Education Association, a union representing more than 23,000 teachers, support staff, professors and retired educators across the state, voiced concerns with the administration’s plans.

“Currently, thousands of Maine educators and tens of thousands of Maine students benefit from federal funding and Department of Education programs,” said MEA President Jesse Hargrove in a written statement. “The disruption of these supports has already caused harm, and the Supreme Court’s decision Monday — which blocked relief ordered by lower courts — will only compound that harm and increase uncertainty for students, educators, and communities who rely on these programs.”

The Trump administration has celebrated Monday’s ruling as a positive step towards returning education authority to the states. In a written statement, McMahon said the department now plans to move forward with a reduction in force “to promote efficiency and accountability and to ensure resources are directed where they matter most.”

“The Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies,” McMahon said.

Key functions of the U.S. Department of Education include overseeing the disbursement of federal education funds, management and oversight of student loans and financial aid, funding and dissemination of education research, testing students and investigating civil rights complaints.

The department started the year with about 4,000 federal employees and has announced plans to fire nearly 1,400. It does not have any federal workers in Maine, according to the most recent U.S. Office of Personnel Management data, from September.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, Maine schools received approximately $250 million in federal funding, distributed through the Maine DOE, to help pay for special education, school nutrition, multilingual education and technical schools. Local and state funding for the same year totaled more than $2.6 billion.

The U.S. Department of Education also told school districts earlier this month that it is freezing distribution of some Title funds — supplementary funding that goes to underfunded areas of education — for the current fiscal year. Two dozen states, including Maine, have filed a lawsuit against the administration seeking to unfreeze those funds.

Teboe, the Maine DOE spokesperson, said Tuesday that Maine is still awaiting guidance from the U.S. DOE on the status of $26 million the state had expected to get.

Kelly Murphy, D-Scarborough, co-chair of the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that it’s unclear whether the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the federal DOE would lead to further funding disruptions for Maine schools, which has added to a sense of confusion and upheaval.

Federal education funding is critical to supporting low-income districts, special education, supports for English language learners, student loans and other initiatives, Murphy said.

“Without these funds, local districts, especially those in rural and economically-disadvantaged areas, would face severe financial shortfalls when forced to (solely) pay for student services and supports that are required by federal law,” Murphy said in an email.

“We will continue monitoring federal proposals closely and will advocate to protect the integrity and accessibility of education in Maine,” she added.