Trump administration moves to dismantle U.S. Department of Education

T​he Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to shift several major U.S. Department of Education functions to other federal agencies — a move that would further dismantle the department and jeopardize equal access to high-quality public education for all students.

The unilateral move, which sidesteps Congressional approval, moves the responsibility of elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education and Indian education to other federal agencies.

Under the new agreement:

• The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees $18 billion in Title I funding for low-income students, would shift to the U.S. Department of Labor, along with much of the work of the Office of Postsecondary Education.
• The Office of Indian Education’s work would move to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
• The U.S. Department of State would assume responsibility for international education and foreign-language studies programs.

Becky Pringle, president of the nearly 3-million member strong National Education Association (NEA), called the move “cruel” and “shameful.”

“Donald Trump and his administration chose American Education Week, a time when our nation is celebrating students, public schools, and educators, to announce their illegal plan to further abandon students by dismantling the Department of Education,” Pringle said.

“Ensuring a brighter future for our children should be a top priority for any administration, but this administration is taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need […] They’re neglecting the basic responsibility to educate our children. It’s cruel. It’s shameful. And our students deserve so much better,” she added.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a March executive order in which President Trump directed the closure of the U.S. Department of Education and ordered the department’s workforce to be cut by half.

Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education would have severe and lasting negative impacts on students, teachers, and their families. Gutting the department would send class sizes soaring, cut job training programs, make higher education more out of reach for families, and take away special education services for students with disabilities, and student civil rights protections.

Education secretary and former professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon argued the plan was “taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” however, the shift of critical funding and support may leave educators, students, and their families scrambling to navigate the fallout.

McMahon wrote in a recent op-ed in USA Today that the government shutdown “underlined just how little the Department of Education will be missed.”

For educators, the effects could be profound: increased daily stress, fewer trained colleagues, reduced mental-health supports, cuts to after-school and summer programs, and even potential job losses.

Take action: Tell Congress to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education

Now, more than ever, we need to strengthen our public schools where 90% of students and 95% of students with disabilities learn.

The U.S. Department of Education helps guarantee equal access and opportunity for all students, regardless of the color of their skin, how much their family earns, or where they live. The department supports our most vulnerable students, and we must stand up to defend them.

Tell your elected representatives to oppose the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education — a move that harms students, communities, and public education itself.