What Dismantling the Department of Education Can Mean for the US

Photo via NEA

***

For years, attacking the Department of Education has been part of Trump’s campaign platform. In this second term, Trump has come back with a vengeance. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been cutting roles left and right, including research funding from the Department of Education. The Department of Education manages student loan programs and administers Pell grants, which help low-income students attend universities. Additionally, the department helps fund programs to support low-income students and those with disabilities. The department helps to provide education to those of low income through dispersing Title I funding. Additionally, the Department of Education enforces civil rights laws which are put in place to prevent race or sex based discrimination in federally funded schools. Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Title I funding would be turned into block grants. Dismantling the department puts a lot of trust in the states that they will implement funding properly.

The Department of Education became its own stand alone department under Jimmy Carter’s administration. In 1979, the department survived with a small margin of 20-19 in the House Rules committee and 210-206 in the full House. With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) the department became a K-12 controller. Cato Institute states, “though the Constitution gives the federal government no authority to govern education, NCLB required states to have uniform math and reading standards and make ‘adequate yearly progress’ to full proficiency by 2014.” However, the NCLB was no longer implemented in 2016 and was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which removed the yearly progress mandate. 

Former president Joe Biden wanted to allow $18.6 billion for Title I Grants for the Fiscal Year 2025. On top of that, his budget would provide $15.7 billion for special education. Biden also presented a $12 billion proposal to provide college courses for free to high school students. The fact that Biden increased the spending for the Department of Education shows that cutting the budget is not what the people need, especially when the scores in Grades Four and Eight are still well under the pre-pandemic average. The removal of Title I funding will hurt not only test scores, but also graduation rates, student behavior, and engagement; this is due to the lack of resources that will be provided to these students.     

President Donald Trump has reestablished The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, (1776 Commission) which was created at the end of Trump’s first term in order to promote patriotic education. Through reestablishing the 1776 Commission, Trump has attempted to “clean up” education. He believes the educational system has started to radicalize the youth. Trump explained via executive order that, “young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.” On top of that, he claimed that education has broken the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), and sex-based equality and opportunity, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).

What Trump discussed in this executive order relates to the curriculum of schools. However, setting the curriculum is up to the states and local districts. Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center of Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, states, “it is not an agency that is telling schools what to do. They’re not defining curriculum. They’re not telling schools which teachers they can hire or which books to use or anything along those lines.” Point blank: the Education Department is not responsible for the indoctrination of the youth because they have no control over what schools are teaching the students. Dismantling the Department of Education does not stop the indoctrination that Trump thinks is happening in schools. On the other hand, it does prevent low-income students from being educated, and it harms those with disabilities from getting the education they deserve. 

The positive here is the fact that even if Trump is able to dismantle the Department of Education, most schools’ funding comes from the states. However, there are certain institutions that depend more on federal funding, such as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Additionally, the funding for IDEA and Title I would move to block grants, but there would be no more oversight on how the funding is distributed. Therefore, there is no way to know that all the funding is properly being distributed. 

On top of that, it is very likely that Title I funds will be slashed. This is detrimental because Title I funds are given to low-income school districts; these are the students that really need the access to education. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, removing Title I funding would remove up to six percent of the workforce. Trump’s plan to eradicate the Department of Education has major implications for the economy.  

Fortunately, the removal of the Department of Education involves Congressional approval. Since much of the Title I funding goes to red rural states, the idea of dismantling the Department of Education faces much opposition from congressional Republicans. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Department of Education will be eradicated. On the other hand, many of the Republicans might be eager to give power back to the states. Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education states, 

“there’s a desire to get rid of some of the red tape and make it easier for states to use the money in a way that makes sense locally, but when that happens we end up seeing the money not getting to the students who need it most…There’s a reason we have support systems in place for students. If you take them away, students will lose opportunities to learn.” 

Welner truly highlights that the United States has implemented this system in order to keep the educational system running smoothly. The fact that Biden throughout his time as president increased spending on education shows how the education system needs more assisting. So many people rely on this funding, and removing the funding could cause great harm.  

Dismantling the Department of Education will cause undue and unneeded confusion. “Such a move would likely result in a difficult transition with significant confusion at the state and district level, resulting in delays or failures in getting money where it should go,” Welner says. Such upheaval will truly result in more harm than benefit. Children will miss out on opportunities because this transition will cause so much adjustment for the school districts. 

Despite this, Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, expresses how the removal of the Department of Education can reduce the burdens and the bureaucracy on spending and allow for more opportunities for various forms of education outside of traditional college. Historically, issues have arisen because many students on both the K-12 educational level and the higher education level depend on this federal funding. Perhaps its removal can result in a better, more efficient system. But that seems unlikely. 

All in all, the removal of the Department of Education will cause more harm than good. Both students and staff members rely heavily on this funding. Particularly, those of low-income background are being disproportionately affected. The Department of Education and Title I funding has been able to provide many Americans with the greatest tool of all time: education. 

***
This article was edited by Allison Anwalimhobor and Kate Stover.