Abolishing the Department of Education has been a relevant topic of conversation in the news lately, but many aren’t aware of how the department works and shapes our educational environments. Although the topic has become more prevalent in recent news, conservatives have long favored abolishing it.
The Department of Education has been around since 1979, and there has been talk of abolishing it since the very beginning.
The Department of Education has many responsibilities, including overseeing funding for public schools, administering student loans, handling discrimination, and running programs that help low-income students. It also collects data and oversees research on America’s schools.
In addition to all of this work, the Department of Education gathers information to identify the best educational practices, including teaching techniques. It also identifies problems or concerns in our education system and focuses national attention on them.
Although the Department of Education’s work sounds positive, the department receives plenty of backlash for various reasons.
Critics believe that implementing the department is a federal overreach and that education should be managed on a state or local level to better understand students’ needs. They also believe it places too many federal constraints on local school districts. In terms of funding, those opposed to the department think that eliminating it would decrease government spending and that funds could be allocated elsewhere.
Ideological arguments have also come into play, including President Donald Trump’s comment that the department is “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material.” This is a common argument made by those against the department, as many think it promotes certain political agendas in our education system.
If the Department of Education were to be abolished, public schools would see immediate effects. There would be a loss of federal funding to schools entirely, which would mean that schools would lose funding for support programs like Title 1, special education, and free or reduced lunch programs. It would also mean that state and local governments would have higher levels of control over education rather than the federal government. It could be a potential positive thing by leading to more personalized education in specific areas, but it could also lead to disparities between states and districts within states. Lower-income areas would struggle without the financial resources that are provided by the federal government.
Since states would be able to set their own educational guidelines and standards, education could vary widely among states and local governments. It means that educational disparities would be more widespread, and students’ opportunities would vary by location.
Abolishing it could also mean that there would be less enforcement of protections for minority groups that are currently enforced by civil rights protections under the Department of Education. These protections extend to discrimination based on race, gender, disability, and other factors.
It would also have a significant impact on higher education as federal oversight of financial aid, including Pell Grants and federal student loans, would be impacted. Students would face difficulty attaining financial aid for higher education.
In terms of things like 504 plans, which ensure that students with disabilities receive accommodations in education, there would be a loss of federal oversight, and states would have to decide how to implement the 504 protections. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) would also be affected, which mandate that public schools provide a free and appropriate education to students with disabilities.
Despite all the talk surrounding the Department of Education and what could happen to it, it is unlikely that the department would be entirely abolished. This has been a topic of discussion for the past 40 years, but it doesn’t have much substance. It would have to be brought to Congress to be eliminated, where a supermajority would be necessary to take any action.
However, Trump may be able to weaken the Department of Education by making changes like cutting federal job positions. One of Trump’s major goals is to cut the size of the federal government dramatically.
According to CNN, the White House prepared an executive order that orders the department secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin taking down the Department of Education. It directly orders her to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” while operating to the “maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
The Department of Education plays an important role in shaping our educational system, and its potential abolishment could have benefits but would also bring many challenges.
