President Trump on Thursday directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to close out issues that cannot be completed without Congressional approval, setting the stage for the earthquake's political and legal battle over the role of the federal government in the country's schools.
Surrounded by school children sitting at a desk in a room east of the White House, Trump has signed a much-anticipated executive order that said he would begin to demolish the department “once once.” The Trump administration cites low test scores as an important justification for the move.
“We're going to shut it down and shut it down as soon as possible,” Trump said.
The university's federal loan management department tracks student achievement, supports programs for students with disabilities, and was created by Congressional acts. This means that, according to Article 1 of the Constitution, only Congress can close it. The clear portrayal of power, a fundamental element of democracy since the start of the United States, underscores why other modern presidents refused to unilaterally shut down the federal division.
But Trump has already taken important steps that limit the operation and authority of the agency. Since Trump took office, his administration has cut more than half the departmental workforce and eliminated $600 million in grants. Job cuts enforce the state's assurance that all students have equal opportunities for education.
Trump's orders include potentially contradictory guidance for McMahon. Meanwhile, the order instructs her to promote the removal of the agency. Meanwhile, she is also required to strictly comply with federal law. This order does not provide guidance on how to square these two points.
Trump said Thursday that the department will continue to provide important functions mandated by law, including managing federal student aid such as loans and grants, as well as special education with high levels of poverty for students and funding districts. The department will also continue to enforce civil rights, White House officials said.
Trump called these programs “useful features” and called them “fully preserved.” He added that some functions will be “redistributed to various other institutions and departments.”
Higher education leaders and advocacy groups quickly condemned the executive order.
“It's a political theatre, not a serious public policy,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council of Education, who said its members are an association that includes many universities and universities. “To dismantle the Cabinet-level federal agency requires Congressional approval and we urge lawmakers to reject misleading rhetoric in favor of what is in the best interests of students and their families.”
Lawyers for the Department of Education predicted that the administration would challenge Trump's orders by claiming that it violated the constitutional authority provisions and provisions that require the president to be aware that federal law is being enforced faithfully.
These attorneys who called for anonymity to explain private deliberations on the impending lawsuit also discussed the possibility of using the Supreme Court ruling from June 2024 to block Trump's actions. That ruling wiped out the precedent established over the years by interpreting the law and limiting its ability to transfer power to the Congress and the courts, with all conservative justice for the majority.
“See you in court,” said Randy Weingerten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a labor union for educators. Her group is one of those groups that she intends to sue.
While many conservatives support Trump's desire to shut down his agency, the order presents a plight to Republicans in Congress. Polls over the past two months have consistently shown that nearly two-thirds of voters are opposed to closing the department.
While the local education sector primarily controls how schools are already operating, the federal sector influences the setting of academic standards, guides schools through compliance with regulations, and influences interpretation of civil rights laws.
Trump told audiences, including several Republican governors, that the order's goal was to “return students back to the state.”
“Democrats want federal officials to take control of your children's school,” Ohio Republican representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told social media Thursday. “Republicans want to give parents the choice to do the best for their children.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the chamber's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he would introduce the law to eliminate the education sector.
“I agree with President Trump that the Department of Education has failed that mission,” Cassidy said in a statement.. “The department can only be closed with Congressional approval, so we support the President's goals by bringing the law to achieve this as soon as possible.”
In his remarks before signing the order, Trump signaled that lawmakers might promote lawmakers to move on to the issue, adding that Democrats wanted Republicans to help them abolition the department.
However, democratic support seems unlikely. And in the final session of Congress, a quarter of House Republicans voted against the measures to remove the agency.
“I hope they vote for it,” Trump said. “Because it might come in front of them in the end.”
Trump's plan to get the department has attracted intense criticism from Democrats and education advocacy groups, saying the measure marks a setback in the federal government from its obligation to protect and provide services to the most vulnerable students, even if mostly symbolic.
“Let's be clear. Before federal oversight, millions of children, especially children with disabilities and our most vulnerable communities, have been denied the opportunity they deserve,” said Keri Rodriguez of the National Parent Union.
Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat who is a ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, urged his Republican colleagues to join him in opposing order change.
“I said, 'I love not being educated,'” he said, “I can summarise in his own words, which implements his own philosophy on education.”
Trump is even more advanced than any president in trying to overhaul what the Republican administration lamented as a long-standing bureaucracy. Trump's order also amplifies the argument that stagnant students' test scores show that billions of federal spending did not produce results.
“The current situation has made American children so clearly fail, and more than they've lined up in the pockets of bureaucrats and activists,” said education advocate Nicole Neely.
Reading the 13-year-old score is roughly the same as in the 1970s, and it is true that the mathematics scores are slightly better, but this is due to the sharp decline that accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the Biden administration, the department was heavily criticised for being overly postponed by teacher unions and being overly dependent on certain issues, such as student loan forgiveness and interpretation of civil rights laws on behalf of trans students.
Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute, thinks both the right and left are exaggerating the impact of the department, but said the orders are of little use to address issues like Overreach and Red Tape.
“We have this whole big national debate and we don't solve any practical issues along the way,” he said. “We are so focused on 30,000 feet of conversation that we don't change, what we haven't corrected, what we actually make life difficult for educators and parents.”
Sarah Melbosh Reports of contributions.
