Well, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that will take us a lot further in that direction by destroying the U.S. Department of Education. Today’s move signals a change in federal oversight of education and student financial aid more generally. The Education Department is in charge of managing federal student loans.
Looking back In 1979, Former President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education. Today, it manages the nation’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. The department is responsible for delivering vital funding to low-income students and enforcing civil rights nationwide.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that the Education Department will maintain “critical functions.” These important functions will still have to be handled from the shrunken agency. The announcement comes after a year marked by at least 245 layoffs in the department.
As the department, this month, released almost half its staff. The total employee headcount has fallen from 4,133 when Trump took office in January to a mere 2,183. The reality of where the department stands today means it has few available resources.
This is not the first go-around with existential threats to the Education Department. Its critics have ranged from inaccurate, such as the now-repudiated former President Ronald Reagan, to downright mendacious. In fact, during his first term President Trump attempted to subsume it into the Labor Department.
Only Congress can unilaterally dissolve the Education Department.
Today's decision does not serve the interests of students or families. - Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending
It weakens public education, abandons civil rights enforcement and prioritizes corporate interests over the fundamental right to a quality education. - Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending.
