Editorial: Trump delivering on Education Dept. promise
In a bold move to reshape the landscape of American education, the Trump administration is advancing plans to significantly diminish the role of the Department of Education. According to a recent report by The Washington Post, key grant programs within the department, including the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Postsecondary Education, are set to be transferred to other Cabinet agencies, such as the Labor Department and the State Department. This restructuring reflects a long-standing Republican ambition to either dismantle or significantly reduce the federal education bureaucracy, a goal that has gained traction since the department’s establishment by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. While outright elimination of the department would require congressional approval, the administration is leveraging its authority to reorganize its functions, signaling a shift towards empowering state and local education authorities.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has articulated the administration’s vision, emphasizing the need for greater discretion for local education officials. In her op-ed for USA Today, she argues that the Department of Education has become a “pass-through” for funds that could be more effectively managed at the state level. McMahon counters fears that reforms will jeopardize essential programs, asserting that federal funding for low-income students and students with disabilities will remain intact. Critics of the department often highlight its budgetary growth—from $14 billion at its inception to a projected $268 billion in fiscal 2024—while U.S. test scores stagnate and college costs escalate, leaving many graduates with overwhelming debt. In this context, the Trump administration’s actions are positioned as a necessary step towards reducing bureaucratic constraints and fostering innovation in education, particularly as federal funding constitutes only a small fraction of local education budgets.
This strategic pivot also aligns with Trump’s campaign promises to dismantle the Department of Education, positioning him as a leader willing to take decisive action where previous Republican administrations hesitated. As the administration pushes forward, there is a call for congressional Republicans to galvanize support for these reforms, which aim to shift the focus of education policy from federal mandates to state-led initiatives. The ongoing debate underscores the tension between federal oversight and local control, a dynamic that will shape the future of American education in the years to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNQ3CxPzu1I
The Trump administration is moving forward with efforts to neuter the Department of Education. The move couldn’t come fast enough.
The Washington Post reported this week that various grant programs within the department will be moved under other Cabinet agencies. This includes the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Postsecondary Education, which will become part of the Labor Department. International Foreign Language Education will become part of the State Department.
It would take an act of Congress to eliminate the Education Department outright, but the White House does have leeway to downsize and reorganize its functions.
President Jimmy Carter created the department in 1979 as a sop to the teachers unions. Since then, it has done virtually nothing to improve the state of American public education while its budget has jumped from an original $14 billion to $268 billion in fiscal 2024. Meanwhile, U.S. test scores lag and the price of college has soared, leaving many graduates buried in debt.
Republicans from Ronald Reagan on have repeatedly vowed to dismantle the agency, but Trump is the first to follow through.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon noted that the goal is to give state and local education officials more discretion rather than to shackle them with the edicts that often accompany federal funding.
“The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years,” McMahon wrote in a recent op-ed for USA Today. “The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states.”
Defenders of the department scare parents by claiming reforms will mean the end of vital programs at their local schools. Nonsense. “It simply means the end of a centralized bureaucracy micromanaging what should be a state-led responsibility,” McMahon explained.
“Funding for low-income students and students with disabilities predates the Education Department and will continue indefinitely. Protecting students’ civil rights is work that will never go away.”
Indeed, the federal government supplies only about 8.5% of local education spending. “But the feds need relatively little money to exert power,” writes Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute. And that power burdens school districts with edicts and mandates that often discourage reform and experimentation while doing little to improve student outcomes.
Eliminating the Department of Education was one of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises, and he deserves credit for moving forward where other GOP leaders got cold feet. Trump and McMahon should next put heat on Republicans in Congress to finish the job.
Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service
Editorial cartoon by Steve Kelley (Creators Syndicate)