Table of Contents
By Annie Ma and Collin Binkley
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said he wants his new educational leader, Linda McMahonTo “put itself out of a job” and to close the education department.
McMahon was confirmed by the Senate On Monday, and an executive order to close the department, could come so soon this week. McMahon told employees that it was the “last mission” of the department to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and transfer the authority of the office to states.
Eliminating the department In total would be a cumbersome task that would probably require an act of the congress.
The Trump government has already started revising the work of the department.
Trump consultant Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been reduced Dozens of contracts It was rejected as “awake” and wasting. It has stripped the Institute of Education Sciences, which collects data about the academic progress of the country, and has the administration dismissed or suspended Dozens of employees.
The most important role of the agency is financially. Every year the billions of federal money distribute to colleges and schools and manages the federal portfolio of student loans. Closing the department would mean that each of these tasks will be redistributed to another agency. The educational department also plays an important regulatory role in services for students, ranging from people with handicap For children with a low income and homeless.
Federal Education money is indeed central to Trump’s plans for colleges and schools. Trump has sworn Cut down federal money For schools and colleges that push “critical racing theory, transgender insanity and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” and to reward states and schools that put an end to the term of office of the teacher and universal support School choice programs.
Federal financing makes up a relatively small part of the public school budgets – about 14%. Colleges and universities are more dependent on, through research subsidies together with federal financial assistance that helps students pay their tuition fees.
Here is a look at some of the most important functions of the department and how Trump said that he could approach them.
Student loans and financial assistance
The educational department manages around $ 1.5 trillion in student loans for more than 40 million borrowers. It also supervises the Pell Grant, who offers auxiliary students to students under a certain income threshold, and manages the free request for federal student assistance ( Fafsa ), who use universities to assign financial assistance.
President Joe Biden’s administration made cancellation of student loans a characteristic effort of the work of the department. Although Biden’s first attempt to cancel student loans was overrun by the Supreme Courtthe administration forgive More than $ 175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers due to a series of changes in programs that it manages, such as forgiveness of public services.
The efforts for forgiveness of loans have had to deal with the Republican pushback, including disputes of various states led by GOP.
Trump has criticized The efforts of Biden to cancel the debts as illegal and unfair, and called it a “total catastrophe” that “taunts young people”. Trump’s plan for student debt is uncertain: he has not set detailed plans.
Civil rights enforcement
Through its Office for Civil Rights, the educational department carries out investigations and provides guidelines on how civil rights laws should be applied, such as for LGBTQ+ students and students of color. The office also supervises a large data collection project that follows differences in sources, course access and discipline For students from different racial and socio -economic groups.
Trump has suggested another interpretation of the civil right role of the office. Under his administration, the Department instructed the office to give complaints of priority anti -Semitism Above all and has opened studies into colleges and school sports competitions for allowing transgender athletes compete with ladies teams.
In his campaign platform, Trump said that he would pursue civil rights cases to stop ‘schools to discriminate based on race’. He has described the policy for diversity and equity in education as “explicit illegal discrimination” and said that colleges they use will pay fines and tax their donations.
Trump has also promised to exclude transgender students From title IX protection, which influences school policy on the use of pronouns, bathrooms and changing rooms of students. Originally accepted in 1972, Title IX was used for the first time as a women’s rights law. Last year the Biden administration said that the Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of Gender identity and sexual orientationBut a federal judge loosened that protection.
College -accreditation
Although the Education Department does not immediately accredit colleges and universities, supervision of the system is conducting all federally recognized accreditation agencies. Higher education institutions must be accredited to gain access to federal money for financial help from students.
Accreditation was examined from conservatives in 2022, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools questioned Florida Public Colleges And universities. Trump has said that he would fire “radical left -wing accreditants” and accept applications for new accreditants who would maintain standards, including “defending the American tradition” and removing “Marxist” diversity managers.
Although the education secretary has the authority to terminate her relationship with individual accrediting agencies, it is a difficult process that has rarely been pursued. Under President Barack Obama, the Steps department took steps to cancel the accreditors for a leisure chain with a profit motive, but the Trump administration blocked the move. The group, the accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, was terminated by the Biden administration in 2022.
Money for schools
Much of the money from the educational department for K-12 schools is due to large federal programs, such as Title I for schools with low incomes and people with disability education. These programs support services for students with disabilities, lower classes with additional educational positions and pay for social workers and other non-teaching in schools.
During his campaign, Trump called for moving those functions to the States. He has not offered any details about how the core functions of the agency to send federal money to local districts and schools are handled.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025A radical proposal that sketches an extreme right -wing vision for the country offered a blueprint. It suggested to supervise programs for children with disabilities and children with a low income are the first to go to the Ministry of Health and Human Services, before he finally called the financing and convert it into no-string-tasted stock exchanges to states.
Associated Press Education Writer Collin Binkley has contributed to this report.
The coverage of the Associated Press receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is only responsible for all content. Find APs standards For working with philanthropias, one list From supporters and funded coverage areas on AP.org.
Originally published: