In a bold move to deliver on his campaign commitments, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the disassembly of the Education Department. This was a longstanding ambition within the Republican Party. The order mandated Linda McMahon, the then Education Secretary, ‘within the legal and feasible scope, to take necessary actions to execute the Education Department’s shutdown and return education control back to States and local communities.’ The disintegration of the department would be a complex process, possibly necessitating Congressional intervention.
In Trump’s initial weeks in the presidency, notable shifts within the department came to light. His administration dramatically cut the department’s personnel by half and revamped much of the department’s operations. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, working closely with Trump, dropped several contracts deemed ‘progressive’ and a drain on resources.
In a sweeping move, the Department of Government Efficiency completely dissolved the Institute of Education Sciences, the authoritative body for the aggregation of data on national academic progress. The Education Department’s primary function was financial, overseeing billions in federal funding directed to colleges and schools, as well as handling the vast federal student loan portfolio.
Beyond the juggling of massive funds, the Department also held critical regulatory roles serving students from diverse backgrounds, from disabled students to those in financial need or without a home. Intriguingly, despite his efforts to dismantle it, Trump’s strategic plans for colleges and institutions heavily relied on the very federal educational funding routed via the Department. Trump promised to eliminate federal funding for educational institutions promoting ‘critical race theory, transgender issues, and any other controversial sexual, racial, or political content.’
Additionally, Trump championed rewarding states and educational institutions that challenged teacher tenure and supported broad-based school choice programs. Public school budgets depended on federal funds to the tune of roughly 14%, while Universities drew significantly from these sources for supporting research activities and student financial aids. Here, we delve into some critical roles played by the Department, vis-a-vis Trump’s perspective on them.
The Education Department managed approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debts, affecting over 40 million borrowers. Moreover, it administered the Pell Grant, a financial aid directed towards students from lower income groups, and managed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a critical tool universities used to assign financial aid. This drew severe criticism from Republicans, leading to legal challenges from GOP-propelled states.
Trump gleefully lambasted Biden’s efforts to forgive these debts as ‘illegal’ and ‘unfair,’ viewing it as a ‘total disaster’ that ‘toyed with the young generation.’ However, Trump held back from declaring any concrete strategy to alleviate student debt—an intriguing ambiguity, given his strong views on Biden’s approach.
Through its Office for Civil Rights, the department spearheaded investigations and provided guidance on executing civil rights laws and their applicability, such as towards LGBTQ+ students or students of color. More so, it handled an expansive data collection project that aimed to spotlight disparities in course access, discipline, and resources across different racial and socioeconomic groups of students.
The Trump administration presented a distinct interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. To that effect, the department was instructed to prioritize complaints of antisemitism over anything else, and investigations were initiated into colleges and school sports leagues that permitted transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.
Trump pledged to mount civil rights cases with the objective to ‘block schools from racially discriminating.’ He strongly critiqued diversity and equity policies in education as ‘explicit unlawful discrimination.’ His administration embarked on a series of investigations into multiple colleges for alleged racial discrimination.
Trump’s stance also suggested an exclusion of transgender students from Title IX protections, which had implications on school policies concerning students’ pronoun usage, accessibility to bathrooms and locker rooms. Title IX, enacted in 1972, was originally implemented as a women’s rights law.
Even though the Department of Education didn’t directly accredit colleges and universities, it monitored the system by routinely reviewing all federally recognized accrediting agencies. Higher education institutions needed to be accredited to secure federal money for student financial aid.
Despite possessing the authority to sever ties with individual accrediting agencies, the Education Secretary rarely invoked this due to the steep challenges involved. Most of the Department’s funds for K-12 schools were routed through large federal programs such as Title I for poverty-stricken schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
These schemes not only empowered students with disabilities, but also economically enabled schools to hire additional teachers to limit class sizes, and funded social workers and other non-teaching roles within the education arena. Trump, during his campaign, sought to delegate these responsibilities to individual states.
However, the details on how he planned to manage the Department’s core functions like the allocation of federal money to local districts and schools remained notably absent. This pointed out a significant gap between Trump’s aggressive stance towards the department and his lack of concrete plans on managing its crucial roles.
The post Trump’s Bold Stroke: Biden’s Missteps Exposed in Education Department Dissolution appeared first on Real News Now.
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