Experts say President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations and to abolish the federal department of education could have a big impact on the city’s public schools — from the education of newly arrived migrants to how the city serves children with disabilities. 

“Many of the policy proposals raised would have a devastating impact on the students we serve, from deportation of immigrant students and families to abolishing the United States Department of Education, to decreasing funding for education and for the students who have the greatest needs,” Randi Levine, policy director of Advocates for Children, said.

Advocates for Children aims to ensure all students receive a high-quality education — including those with disabilities and those who are homeless, two groups for whom the creation of the federal department of education was critical.

“We work with families whose students with disabilities are able to get the services they need in school because of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We work with families whose children can stay in their school when they become homeless because of the federal McKinney-Vento Act, and the list goes on of students whose education is protected because of our federal laws and students who get funding from the federal government,” she said.

Most education policy, and funding. is set at the city and state level. But the city expects to receive a little more than $2 billion in federal education money this year. About half of that money goes to Title I schools, serving large proportions of low-income children. 

Columbia University Teachers College professor Aaron Pallas says the Project 2025 Playbook — policies outlined by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which Trump sought to distance himself from — shares language with Trump's call for dissolving the department, and shifting its responsibilities elsewhere. It calls for shifting Title I funding to the states over the course of 10 years.

"If that money were to be forced to shift to state and local coffers, that would be a lot of money we'd have to raise. And we don't have that money now. So that's a kind of alarming prospect,” Pallas said.

Trump has also called for mass deportations.

Even if they don't come to pass, education professor David Bloomfield said just the fear of deportation would impact the tens of thousands of migrant students in city schools.

“We're worried about chronic absenteeism already. And if people feel like they have to sort of go underground to avoid deportation or other harassment by the federal government, that would be a big deal too,” Bloomfield, who teaches at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, said.