On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling to significantly defund the Department of Education (ED). His legislation looks to move funding to other agencies and lay off as much staff as possible, with the goal of dismantling the agency as a whole and leaving educational issues to the states. The ED has been part of the U.S. government since 1979, collecting student data and providing supplementary funding to schools. Despite this, the Trump administration has chosen to defund and dissolve the department as part of a larger plan to lower government spending.
The Trump administration is displeased with the performance of American students’ test scores. An article from the White House explains that 70% of 13-year-old students are not proficient in their reading and math skills. The Trump administration is blaming the ED for insufficient support to students, and using this as their reasoning to dissolve the department.
However, the executive branch lacks the power to defund Congress-approved spending, including the ED. Instead, Trump directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to take the issue to Congress, and advocate against the ED in its current state, saying he hoped McMahon would put herself out of a job. Yet, many political analysts are skeptical of the order’s ability to generate the 60 Senate votes necessary to overturn the original congressional legislation that created the agency.
Senate Democrats are most skeptical of the executive order. “They are going to run into opposition,” Director of Education Policy at Brookings Jon Valant wrote in a New York Times article. “They have a laser-thin majority and a filibuster to confront in the Senate,” he said, referring to the four seat Republican majority.
Yet, this isn’t Trump’s first action against the ED. Earlier this month, the Department of Government Efficiency directed efforts to fire federal employees towards the department This resulted in the organization losing nearly half of their 4,000 employees.
The ED will not be fully dissolved; some projects, like Title I, which provides money to create programs for financially disadvantaged students and programs for differently abled students, will be managed by new government agencies. The White House corroborated this message, claiming that the ED will retain key functions mandated by Congress.
Despite claims from the Trump administration that the close of the department will take place legally, people are still ready to fight. “I will fight your illegal behavior until the cows come home, and I’m pretty sure the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve contacted my office since you started this nonsense are on the same page,” Minnesota Senator Tina Smith said in an interview with The Hill. Teachers are prepared to rally with Smith’s message. “See you in court,” President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten said.
Policymakers aren’t the only ones worried about the impacts of dismantling the ED. Edina Public Schools (EPS) Superintendent Stacie Stanley expressed her concern in an email sent to the community on March 20. 1.5%, or $2,143,800 worth of funding for EPS comes from the ED. This goes into helping Title I, II, III, and IV programs, which provide supplemental services for underprivileged students, help recruit teachers, aid students in English programs, and provide disability funding. EPS have not been given confirmation on the status of this additional funding.
