In the short time preceding January 20th, the day of President Donald Trump’s swearing in and official start to his term, he signed numerous executive orders regarding the U.S. Department of Education, including one on March 20th, directed at its dismantlement. He and his administration say their goal is to “Make America Great Again”, but what does that mean for the Department of Education?
The Department of Education was created as a result of an act of congress in 1979 to ensure each individual in the United States has equal access to education. Over 4,000 people work for the Department of Education and it has an annual budget of $79 billion dollars. This money is sent to schools to aid in the education of all students and is provided for schools serving lower income communities. The department also enforces civil right laws to prevent any discrimination based on race or sex. Although NBC News claims that Trump is set on completely abolishing the department and leaving educational matters to each individual state, the Department of Education cannot be closed unless it’s by an act of Congress as the department began as an act of congress in the first place. Not only would President Trump need congressional approval, but a supermajority of senators would be needed to approve of the abolishment of the department, including the votes of at least seven democrats which is highly unlikely as a result of where democrats stand on the issue.
Why does President Trump want to get rid of the Department of Education anyway? One of the main roles of the department is the enforcement of civil rights laws, protecting students, teachers, and others with a role in education from discrimination. Trump wants to do away with the department, mainly for these reasons as it weaves into his campaign’s goal to liquidate any sort of inclusion programs, especially those in schools since he claims that these inclusion policies are leading to discrimination against the majority of the country.
Leaving educational matters to each individual state can cause economic tension as it is the federal government that supports education through funding since they have a greater budget. While each state operates their schools and makes sure certain policies are being enforced, the U.S. federal government as a whole plays a huge part in funding certain student opportunities such as loans.
The reality of the situation is that shortly after the department was established in 1979, representatives of the republican party have been pushing to abolish it, as the dismantling of the department of education was one of Ronald Reagan’s pledges for his campaign in 1980. He sent in an executive order to abolish the Department of Education as well as the Energy Department in 1982, but because of the strong opposition the Democratic party feels on this topic, the order didn’t pass and it was put on the back burners of the Republican party. The topic has continued to be revisited since then, but now that there’s currently a larger number of Republicans than Democrats in Congress, and the education department’s abolition has been taken more seriously into consideration by the government.
Considering previous failures in the eradication of the Department of Education, and the amount of time it would take, the department’s repeal likely won’t occur for a while. However, this is something that will be kept on the government’s radar, and something people should be paying close attention to.