President Donald Trump wants to shut down the Department of Education, in keeping with the goals of conservatives before him. He has previously promised to accomplish this via executive order, despite the fact that such a drastic decision would require congressional approval.
Congress established the DOE to promote quality education and equal opportunities for achievement. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law. The DOE’s responsibilities include providing student loans and supporting programs that benefit low-income and disabled students.
The fallout from Trump’s goal would damage us here. Because the DOE oversees student loan programs, the agency is important to SHHS students seeking the next steps in their education. The DOE awards more than $120 million annually in grants, loans and work-study funds. Without it, the number of students who can afford higher education would decline. Making college less affordable would harm economically diverse communities like ours all over the country.
The DOE is also responsible for funding Special Education programs and ensuring that schools follow Individualized Education Plans. If the DOE is eliminated, some students will not receive the specialized education that federal law requires.
Government teacher Kimberly Owens said that it’s not typical for a president to abolish a department via executive order. “I’m interested to see what Congress’s response is because it will have impacts across the U.S.,” Owens said. “Even though education is a state issue, it does give funding and federal prerogatives, so any school receiving federal funding will feel a change. States, if they’re going to maintain the same level of services for all groups of students, are going to have to find a way to fill in the gaps, and that’s going to cause everyone to suffer. Typically, marginalized groups receive more funding than non-marginalized groups, so they’re going to feel the impacts disproportionately.”
The DOE also protects Title I, which provides financial assistance to schools with high percentages of low-income students. Schools that comprise at least 40 percent low-income students have access to Title I funds to upgrade schoolwide instructional programs. The funds can be used to hire specialists who can meet unique educational needs, while Boulevard and Woodbury elementaries receive Title I funding to operate targeted assistance programs for students who are failing or at risk of doing so. If the Department of Education were eliminated, Title I protections would evaporate, and students who currently benefit from these special education programs would suffer.
Psychology teacher Victoria Berndt said that the elimination of the DOE would cause damaging effects that extend beyond the education system. “Students will suffer. Educationally, potentially socially and emotionally. It is setting students up for a future of potential misinformation,” Berndt said. “It will further expand the achievement gap; it will further divide access to post-secondary education; it will affect the workforce; it will affect social groups and class systems. It will have immediate effects, like a dam bursting.”
Students understand how the elimination of the DOE would affect their lives, and they’re angry.
Sophomore Andrew Murray said that the Trump administration’s plan could have disastrous effects for students entering college. “I don’t think public funding should be abolished, because people who aren’t able to pay for school have to take a lot of loans out,” Murray said. “That could be hurtful in the future, because they would be starting off their adult life with all this debt.”
Sophomore Nora Kaelber said that the Trump administration is taking the wrong approach. “I think that if anything he should be increasing the funding that schools get, so abolishing the Department of Education isn’t the right option because education prepares our future leaders.”
Junior Ty’arrie Mason agreed. “We need more money, if anything,” Mason said.
Some students think that Trump’s plan to eliminate the DOE is a direct attempt to assert control of and subvert democracy.
Junior Zoe Sawyer said that Trump is attempting to display his own dominance. “It’s pure stupidity,” Sawyer said. “I feel like he’s doing everything in his power to show that he can take control of everyone.”
Junior Sami Guice questioned the legal validity of eliminating the DOE. “He’s not in a position to be able to do that. I can’t express how upset it made me when I found out,” Guice said. “The DEI stuff too – he’s definitely trying to turn [the country] into a dictatorship.” Some of Trump’s other promised initiatives include eliminating and prohibiting all diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federal employment and agencies.
Junior Sumaya Osman said that the Trump administration would use DOE elimination as a means of control. “I think it’s absurd. I think it’s insane. I think it’s all an attempt to make people easier to manipulate if they don’t have easy access to education,” Osman said.
Said Berndt, “Without the Department of Education, the leaders of this country are doing a massive disservice to all students and all teachers.”
