DJT Ordered Department of Education Gutted as Close to Ending It As Possible

Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

Polls indicate shutting down the Department of Education is profoundly unpopular with the American people. Late last month, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found 63% opposed to closing the departmentand only 37% in support of ending it.

The Department was created by Congress and can only be abolished by Congress. There is no realistic chance of getting 60 votes in the Senate for cloture to bring closure of the department to a floor vote.

Instead, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will gut her department until as little as possible remains of it. Staffing at the department has already been cut almost in half through buyout offers, resignations and mass firings.

Public schools are primarily funded at the state and local level. Federal funding for it is only 6% to 13%, depending upon how it is tallied. Federal money focuses on boosting the schooling of children in low-income and/or rural areas and children with disabilities.

Trump said those funding streams, student loans and Pell grants will continue in the greatly reduced department. How that can be accomplished is not clear.

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