President Donald Trump is continuing to tick items off the Project 2025 checklist — this time, setting his sights on dissolving the Department of Education.
While he can’t formally abolish the department — only Congress has that power — Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, March 20, that directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin taking steps to dismantle the department to the extent that she is allowed.
The plan, according to Trump’s directive, is to “return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
The order came just weeks after thousands of officials in the Department of Education were terminated, starting with dozens of staffers who were placed on leave in early February in relation to axing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and continuing with a 50% workforce reduction in March.
“Well, you’re going to need some people just to make sure they’re teaching English in the schools. Okay, you know English and mathematics, let’s say,” Trump said in Time’s Person of the Year interview, which was published in December. “But we want to move education back to the states.”
So, how might Trump’s efforts to eliminate the longtime department affect American education? Here are four things to know.
Private schools could see a boost
While no official plans have been announced in terms of what exactly will happen to the department’s funding, conservatives have offered several plans throughout the years.
One proposal suggests that the funding should be converted into block grants – which have fewer rules and federal oversight requirements.
However, public school advocates have expressed concern that this could shift the majority of funds towards private schools. In the past, by not receiving federal funding, private schools have not had to follow federal civil rights laws and anti-discrimination directives. They also do not have to provide the same level of support to students with learning disabilities.
It’s unclear if the block grant plan would change these regulations for private schools, but according to Mia Ives-Rublee, senior director for the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, students will undoubtedly be impacted.
“What we do know is we’re going to see a radical change in the way we provide or don’t provide services to disabled students,” she told CNN.
Curriculum requirements will not change
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter made the Department of Education a Cabinet-level agency. Republicans have called for it to be dismantled ever since.
However, the department is one of the smallest in the Cabinet. Its $268 billion budget in 2024 was just 4% of the country’s total budget.
Moreover, Trump’s pledge to “return education to the states” is somewhat misleading. The Education Department does not set curriculum, enrollment or graduation requirements and has no say in what library books, textbooks or resources a school can use. That power already lies with state and local districts.
In creating the department, Congress said, “No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system, except to the extent authorized by law.”
Funding and responsibilities will be dispersed among multiple departments
While the Department of Education accounts for just a small percentage of the U.S. budget, it’s a significant source of funding for many students.
The department is the largest source of loans for U.S. college students, with $1.69 trillion currently owed by nearly 43 million borrowers.
Trump announced on March 21 that those loans will be moved to the Small Business Administration. As for funding programs for special needs students, he announced that will be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Yet another proposal suggests transferring civil rights enforcement issues to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The concern for many is that these departments have no experience overseeing what will become their new responsibilities. By giving more work to fewer people, it’s likely that more students’ concerns will fall through the cracks.
Poor and disabled students could be the most affected
At the signing, Trump promised that federal Pell grants, resources for children with disabilities and Title I funding — for schools that receive federal money to help low-income families — would be “preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments.”
That funding includes over $15 billion for Title I schools and more than $15 billion under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides grants to states to ensure disabled students have access to public education.
However, without the Department of Education to help implement grants and other aid programs, students and schools with the highest levels of need may get the least help.
“It’s very important that we continue to question how these cuts are going to impact students because indeed they are,” said Weade James, senior director for K-12 education policy at the Center for American Progress. “There’s going to be a loss of expertise and a loss of data collection, oversight and accountability.”
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