With every passing day of President Donald Trump being in office, the threat of abolishing the Department of Education (ED) looms over many of us. During his first month in office, Trump’s ridiculous actions threaten our public education system. Our educational system is in jeopardy as Trump has hired incompetent leaders and expressed support for and implemented many actions aligning with the platform of Project 2025.
In his month of presidency, Trump has already nominated unqualified leaders, such as the secretary of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon. Trump named McMahon on Nov. 2024, a politician, former wrestler, and former U.S. Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to serve for his second presidential term. McMahon lacks experience in education, having served on the Connecticut State Board of Education for a single year and only landed the position after lying about her degree on a vetting questionnaire. In the vetting questionnaire, McMahon claimed that she had a degree in education from East Carolina University in 1969 when the degree was actually in French. This highlights the danger of Trump’s nominations and their lack of experience in education.
If McMahon is allowed to lead the ED, the public schooling system may collapse. McMahon has shown to support detrimental choices within the public school system. She prioritizes school choice over elevating the public school system—school choice allows families to use public funds to pay for private schools, but this leaves the public school system in the dust, with less money to improve free education.
Trump has aligned himself with Project 2025, which endangers public education as they intend to cut large funding for basic educational resources. For example, it aims to eliminate all free lunches for those who are not financially eligible according to government standards. This would directly contradict Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s universal school meals bill which allows all students in Minnesota to get two free meals a day from their cafeterias, regardless of their economic circumstances. Reversing the bill would have an adverse impact on many students as in the 2017–18 school year, 37.1% of students in MN were eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch, meaning they came from families that struggled to pay for school lunch. Minnesota families would be forced to reconsider the significant cost of paid meals should the law be contradicted. If students are slightly over the financial threshold or are facing challenges at home, they will not be able to get food, leading to even more stress within the school environment. According to the World Food Program USA malnutrition can decrease cognitive development and learning.
Additionally, Trump also employed two notable Project 2025 contributors and gave them direct power over our education systems: Russell Vought and Tom Homan. Vought is the director of the Office of Management and Budget and can control current funding and cuts. Homan is Trump’s “border czar” and has already allowed federal agents to arrest undocumented residents in schools regardless of their age. This increases the stress factor within schools for all. Being interrogated and surveilled is stressful for everyone and prevents successful learning.
To ensure good education for all in this current political environment, we must connect with our local government. While Trump is trying to control education at the federal level, we can attempt to bring power back to the state. Contact local lawmakers and fight to continue the free lunches bill—fight for good education.
This piece was edited on March 3, 2025.
