The US Department of Education is at a big risk as President Trump is starting to cut staff. As of Tuesday, Mar. 11, he has already signed an executive order promising to cut 50% of the department’s workforce.
There has been a lot of anticipation for this cut in past months, and nearly 600 employees have already voluntarily resigned or retired. Over 1,300 positions are going to be placed on administrative leave, starting very soon on Mar. 21.
The Department of Education prides itself on its commitment to efficiency, accountability, and providing resources to places where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers, according to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on the government website.
Since its original founding in 1867, the Department of Education has aided in the growth of its Federal role for education, and founding mission according to their website is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”
Beyond cutting staff, if Trump concerningly follows through with ideas to entirely abolish the Department of Education, many problems will ensue, posing harm to many communities in the process. Losing Federal funding particularly causes issues for low income families, students with disabilities, extra curricular programs, national testing, access financial aid, and pell grants to fund for college.
It is likely that we will lose federal grants that go towards many aspects of education, especially when it comes to college affordability. This is definitely a hot topic as currently over 40% of college students rely on pell grants to afford their higher education, which could now be at a higher risk.
“I think it’ll have different effects for different people, like for example it does things like monitor and regulate student loans being put out,” said U.S. Government teacher Lindsay Thompson. She pointed out how, additionally to current loans to students, people decades out of college in debt may have their loan forgiveness at risk. “Especially those who were on the verge of getting forgiveness, and I think they should be worried because they might lose some of that forgiveness, and a lot of people were counting on it.”
Many graduate programs will be at risk, due to being funded from federal grants. Many of those graduate programs are producing extensive research and innovation, so it’s very unfortunate that many will get cut if there is no way to fund them anymore.
The responsibility of support for schools is now being put into the hands of the states. States are in charge of what school curriculums are required to include and not include, so we may start seeing reductions of certain educational topics in the classroom. “The Department of Education can’t dictate content. It doesn’t have that ability. That’s the job of state and local governments. It’s a reserved power,” said Thompson. It is however still concerning when it comes to civil rights related issues in schools, because it is the job of the Department of Education to protect our civil rights. “After the recent turnaround in things like Diversity Equity and Inclusion, it’s kind of problematic that we’re losing another government office that would be looking over that kind of thing,” said Thompson.
Education is important, and it is important to have someone in leadership in the President’s cabinet who is an advocate for education, and in spite of not having that, we need to keep supporting the teachers and leaders who are trying to create the best for our education despite the many challenges we are currently facing.
