The Department of Education (DOE) is a federal agency that oversees and establishes education policy across the United States, and administers federal assistance to education. The main purpose of the DOE is to ensure access to education for all citizens of the United States, therefore promoting educational excellence. The Department of Education also plays a role in providing education and funds for low-income and disabled students in school, managing financial aid for millions of college students, and ensuring that every student has access to education to reach their full potential.
For the past couple of months, President Donald J. Trump has held plans to defund the Department of Education. On March 20th of this year, Trump officially signed an executive order to dismantle the DOE. Special government employee Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have identified shutting down the DOE as an area of cost savings. The money made from cuts within the DOE will, instead, be transferred to the Treasury.
Trump believes that the DOE is inefficient and wasteful; that it spends taxpayer dollars without effectively improving educational outcomes. He also emphasizes that control over education should be returned to states and local governments, not exceeding federal power by being in charge of education.
According to FoxNews, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt diminished worries about the Department of Education being shut down and reports that, “Pell Grants and student loans will still be run out of the department in Washington D.C., but the great responsibility of educating our nation’s students will return to the states.”
Although many may agree with Musk and Trump, there are conflicting views against the decision to defund the DOE. The DOE benefits students who are disabled, underprivileged, and the majority of the working class. Therefore, some argue that it is critical for the Department of Education to still be able to support these students.
According to NEAToday and Newsweek, the defunding of the Department of Education will cause serious repercussions in the future. Without the Department of Education, there are fears that the IQ of the nation could drop along with the rate of national education. Furthermore, some have expressed concern that students in public schools may no longer be able to obtain the resources they need to succeed, contributing to a lower level of education across the country.
Ms. Debra Wahle, Math Department, spent most of her career working in public schools before coming to MBS. Ms. Wahle said that many programs will be affected by these financial cuts including programs for “students with disabilities, programs that are created specifically for special ed populations, there are also technological, like VoTech programs that sometimes get funding.” She said that the cuts to the DOE, “definitely undercut a lot of the programs that have been put in place already that sustained all of these populations.” Specifically, the Title I program, which is a federal entitlement program that gives funds to schools in need based on student enrollment, their free and reduced lunch percentage, as well as other relevant data, is at risk. If money from programs like Title I are cut then, “millions of dollars from specific school districts that could have a pretty hard time giving out resources,” Ms. Wahle said.
While the Trump administration has been stressing the benefits of returning power to the states with the elimination of a federal DOE, Ms. Wahle said this has both pros and cons. She said, “When I first started teaching, there was no common core curriculum. So what that meant was how everyone in different states was learning possibly different material, not learning as much in one state or another…if we adopt that standard federally I think it’s a good thing, especially since kids go off to college all over the nation, so if you don’t have some common understanding of the kids coming and what they’ve studied…on the flip side, I could see the advantage states being in control as well because you are dealing with different populations, you are dealing with different sets of circumstances in each state.”
According to President Trump’s executive order, “Federal government control of education has failed students, parents, and teachers. Since its relatively recent inception in 1979, the Department of Education, which does not directly educate students, has spent over $3 trillion without improving student achievement as measured by standardized National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores.”
Ms. Wahle said, “I agree that there’s probably a lot of excess that could currently exist…it really needs to be looked at closely so it is not all cut. Could there be a potential benefit to streamlining it? Maybe? So that there doesn’t end up being too much in one location, when somebody else doesn’t have it.
For more information on Trump’s Executive Order, check out this Fact Sheet. For more information about how the EO may be able to abolish the DOE, check out this NYTimes article.
