Trump Wants to Obliterate the Department of Education*
*The DoED thinks this is a Very Bad Idea, BTW.
It must be tough to be a civil servant these days. Hundreds of them right this minute are clutching their red tape in horror after President Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the superfluous, squanderous U.S. Department of Education. Critics are calling it a reckless gamble with the future of our youth, while supporters hail it as a long-overdue liberation from an oppressive regime of standardized testing, costly compliance mandates, and pathetic cafeteria mystery meals that have been disfavorably compared to prison gruel.
Although the Department of Education was originally established in 1867, that version’s primary purpose was providing statistical data to assist in policymaking rather than directly influencing curriculum. The modern-day DoED [DOE refers to the Department of Energy, by the way, even though people often mislabel the former] was formed in 1979 by Jimmy Carter ostensibly to curry favor with the country’s largest teachers’ union ahead of the impending election. After being given ever-increasing authority and influence over education policy and standards, the agency spent the subsequent four and a half decades perfecting the art of spending billions of dollars without actually improving a single thing. In fact, despite the Department’s exponentially inflated staff and budget, American students continue to trail their international peers academically, proving that throwing money at a problem doesn’t always make it go away (just ask Elon Musk).
By eliminating the Department of Education, Trump wants to hand power back to states, parents, and teachers—you know, the people who actually have to deal with the consequences of education policy. He wants fewer one-size-fits-all mandates from clueless D.C. suits and more flexibility for schools to focus on things that actually matter, like math, history, and maybe even making America literate again.
According to the DoED itself, a shocking 54% of U.S. adults (ages 16-74) lack basic proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. That equates to roughly 130 million American adults who currently read at an elementary level. Unfortunately, the most recent numbers do not show any reversal in that abysmal trend. In 2022, they found that only 29% of eighth-grade public school students were deemed “proficient” in reading skills.
Supporters argue that eliminating the Department will save taxpayers billions, which could be better spent on little things like securing the border, revitalizing American manufacturing, cutting taxes for working families, strengthening the military, and investing in school choice initiatives that give parents decision-making control. Critics are accusing Trump of having a raccoon stapled to his forehead [IYKYK] and fear the move will lead to a decrease in educational quality hahahaha but seriously how much lower can we go?
The death of the DoED isn’t some new-fashioned radical MAGA fantasy. If approved by Congress—and that’s an elephant-sized if—the move would fulfill a dream that dates back to Ronald Reagan, the last Republican to win 49 states and the earner of more electoral votes (525) than any other presidential candidate in history, for what it’s worth. Despite the ‘80s’ appetite for neon jelly slides and Aqua Net-shellacked perms, it seems as if at least some people back then could see that the Department of Education was about as useful as shoulder pads on a fish.
Let’s be real: What does the DoED actually do with its $268 billion taxpayer-funded budget? It doesn’t teach kids, it doesn’t run schools, and it definitely doesn’t improve literacy—unless you count helping students rack up so much debt that they eventually learn what the word forbearance means. Its main function seems to be rubber-stamping questionable regulations and disastrous, politically driven policies (see: the Bill Gates-sponsored Common Core curriculum), ensuring that teachers are teaching to standardized tests rather than bothering themselves with whether or not students are actually learning anything, and making sure that no one graduates high school without a participation trophy and a lifelong aversion to critical thinking.
Predictably, the media is shaking like a first-year gender studies student at a Charlie Kirk rally and attempting to portray a near-future world where starving kids are wandering the streets clutching overdue library books and selling STAY WOKE t-shirts to pay off their student loans. If they bothered to do any actual journalisming *I know it’s not a word but I like it* at all, they’d understand that Trump isn’t pulling a universal plug on school funding (federal contributions make up only 14% of public school budgets); he’s simply taking oversight away from a bunch of Washington bureaucrats who probably couldn’t spell bureaucrat without autocorrect.
From the Official Executive Order available on whitehouse.gov:
The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and 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 [emphasis mine].
Obviously, I hope, no one wants a single child to go hungry at school (or anywhere else). No one is rooting for widespread education inequality, the elimination of Title IX protections, or cutbacks in support for at-risk or disadvantaged students. And none of those things are the goal of this executive order. Despite what angry talking heads and clueless TikTok-ers might tell you, school meal programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are not affected by the potentially imploding DoED. Likewise, student loan programs will be transferred to the Treasury or Commerce Departments, and special education oversight will move to HHS.
“Closing the department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on them—we will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers and others who rely on essential programs,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement after Trump signed the order. “We’re going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition.”
(When Trump nominated McMahon to run the agency, he told reporters, “I want Linda to put herself out of a job.” #savage)
POTUS’s radical, right-wing plan is to let schools focus on actual education rather than drowning them in federal red tape on the daily; to let local communities, parents, and teachers—not faceless fat cats in Washington—decide what works best for their students; to cut waste, free up billions for classrooms and teacher salaries, and finally put an end to the federal government’s obsession with standardized testing. Without the feds propping up failing schools and regulating alternatives into oblivion, competition would force public schools to improve while giving parents more choices. Without the DoED’s “unlimited money for all” plan that has sent tuition skyrocketing (colleges can charge way more because they know students will be able to borrow unlimited funds), institutions of higher learning might actually have to justify their wallet-murdering tuition prices. The goal is fewer mandates, more innovation, better schools, and an education system that serves students instead of overpaid paper pushers.
It’s a hard position to argue, unless you’re one of the 1,300 newly unemployed “workers” whose “work” has been deemed unnecessary.
My astute husband pointed out recently that this administration is the first in his recollection that has promised that if mistakes are made—implying that mistakes might be made, in case you missed that part—they’ll quickly work to rectify them. Comparing that with, say, Biden’s referring to the catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as an “extraordinary success” is like spotting the difference between fixing a leak and throwing yourself a karaoke party while the ship is sinking.
What do you think of Trump’s plans for DoED? Am I missing anything? I know you’ll LMK in the comments. ;)
I graduated high school in 1981, therefore part of the last of the students who were educated rather than indoctrinated. The DoED is a millstone about the neck of American kids and I await its demise with bated breath. L.F.G!!
I no longer have young children in school but I do have 7 grandchildren between the ages of 17 and 2, also my 4 children and their spouses are educators. So I’m deeply concerned for their futures. I believe and have faith that President Trump can make this right. I silently pray for it every day. I always think about what RFK jr. said “ We need to love our children more than we hate each other.”