President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) on Thursday, March 20 claiming that education should be a state’s responsibility to sustain, not the federal government’s. In other words, if this order is implemented, there will be no nationwide standards regarding education, no regulation on federal funding to schools and there will be diminished — if any remain — protections of student civil rights against discrimination based on disability, gender and race. It would also make education much more difficult for students in low-income areas: “Stripping the department of its resources and mission would be catastrophic for the millions of students in low-income communities who need educational services and support,” according to the National Education Association.
Trump went so far as to state, “We’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right…We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we haven’t for a long time,” CBS News reported. However, he failed to announce that Congress has the ultimate decision and authority over the federal government. In this case, the Trump administration would need 60 approval votes in the Senate before the legislation can be advanced, meaning he would need to unite both Democrats and Republicans on this front, as there are only 53 Republicans in the Senate.
However, advocates of the Department of Education fought back on Monday, March 24 by issuing lawsuits against the Trump administration, citing unconstitutional efforts. A lawsuit filed by the National Education Association (NAACP), parents of public school students and other advocacy groups, claims that Trump violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that he “exceeded his constitutional authority,” according to The Hill. In addition, the AmericanFederation of Teachers and other public school districts and organizations filed another lawsuit that Monday, calling for a judge to halt Trump’s order and to deem these actions illegal.
As of April, the Department of Education has been cut in half, leaving only just more than 2,000 workers remaining, according to The Hill. The Education Secretary, Linda McHanon, has been instructed by Trump to “put herself out of a job” in the process of dismantling the Department of Education.
Allegedly, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and financial assistance, such as Pell Grants, Title I and student loans will not be affected by these changes, as of March 19. However, they will eventually be moved to smaller departments. They plan to move programs for students with disabilities, as well as nutrition programs, to the Health and Human Services Department. Meanwhile, student financial assistance is planned to move to the Small Business Administration, according to The Hill.
It’s important to note that these departments are also experiencing significant layoffs. For the Health and Human Services Department, the layoffs are expected to eliminate over a quarter of the department, according to the Associated Press. The Small Business Administration will get much worse, as it is expecting to lose 43% of its department. Additionally, this department is solely accustomed to handling a much lighter workload than the entirety of student loan debt, according to Politico.
This transfer of responsibilities may not be a particularly popular action, as Republicans have stated they are “worried about the size of the debt and the staffing needed to manage the complex system of servicers, borrowers and loan applications,” and since there are “about 43 million borrowers — and a record number of them starting to fall behind on their payments since the pandemic-era hiatus ended in 2023,” this would likely cause significant complications.
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @whitehouse, Instagram
