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Millions of students will be affected, 'disbanding the

Date锛�2025-03-21 16:12Editer锛歛dminRead锛�锛�

According to USA Today, US President Trump plans to sign an executive order on the 20th local time to officially initiate the dissolution process of the Department of Education. This measure is one of his key campaign promises. The executive order requires Secretary of Education McMahon to "take all necessary measures" to promote the closure of the department, "return education management to the states", and continue to ensure the effective and uninterrupted provision of services, programs and benefits on which Americans rely. The New York Times reported on the 19th that since the United States Postal Service replaced the Postal Service over half a century ago, no cabinet level department has been completely abolished. The official closure of the Department of Education requires support from Congress, but even if Congress does not pass this major legislation, the White House can make it difficult for the department's employees to carry out their work effectively. Whether to abolish the Department of Education is another sharp debate between the two parties in the United States. USA Today reported that it is almost certain that Trump's executive order will face legal challenges. 鈥�
It has been brewing for several weeks
On the 20th, CBS announced that the signing of an executive order to shut down the Department of Education has been brewing for weeks, and it is expected that the White House will hold an event attended by several Republican governors, including Florida Governor DeSantis. According to the Associated Press, the White House has not officially stated which functions of the Department of Education have been transferred to other departments and which functions have been cancelled. According to a White House briefing, this executive order also stipulates that any projects and activities still receiving funding from the Department of Education must not "promote diversity, fairness, and inclusivity (DEI) or gender ideology. 鈥�
Reuters reported that Trump has repeatedly called for the dissolution of the Department of Education, calling it a "big scam". He proposed to shut down the department during his previous term, but Congress did not take action. The White House briefing stated that the Department of Education has spent over $3 trillion in funding since its establishment in 1979, but students' academic performance has not improved as measured by standardized test scores. National Public Radio cited a statement from White House Deputy Press Secretary Fields, stating that "scores reveal a national crisis - our children are falling behind. USA Today reported that Trump criticized American public schools for "only ranking high on one thing: education spending per student. 鈥�
Regarding the Department of Education, the Trump administration has taken some degree of downsizing actions. According to USA Today, over 1300 employees of the US Department of Education received termination notices last week. Through layoffs and "buyouts," the number of employees in the department has decreased from 4133 to 2183 since the beginning of Trump's second presidential term. 鈥�
According to Reuters on the 19th, the closure of the Department of Education will be Trump's first attempt to shut down a cabinet level institution. The New York Times reported that previous modern presidents in the United States have not attempted to "unilaterally" shut down a federal department. There have been instances where institutions such as the Interstate Commerce Commission were gradually "phased out," but the actions at the time were supported by Congress. 鈥�
It is highly likely that Congress will not pass it
Reuters said that although the Republican Party holds a 53-47 majority in the Senate, major legislation such as closing the Department of Education, a cabinet level institution, requires 60 votes, which means that the relevant bill needs the support of 7 Democrats to pass. USA Today believes that Trump's effort is "very likely" to fail in Congress, and there is uncertainty even about whether moderate Republicans in the Senate will support it. The Department of Education in the United States is facing its end. "Some American media reports that the Trump administration is well aware that they cannot cancel the department because the decision-making power is entirely in the hands of Congress, but they can destroy the department in the name of" efficiency "by cutting funding and necessary staff. The reality is that this department will eventually gradually disappear. 鈥�
Bloomberg reported on the 20th that Trump claimed that the responsibilities of the Department of Education could be transferred to local governments, but conducting such a "restructuring" is a daunting task. Data shows that last year, the Department of Education disbursed approximately $121 billion in federal grants, loans, and work study programs to nearly 10 million students, supporting over 100000 public schools. The Washington Post reported that the Department of Education is responsible for overseeing the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program. The Los Angeles Times said that most of the work of the US Department of Education revolves around fund management. 鈥�
According to a 2018 report by the US government, federal funding only accounts for a small portion of public school funding, approximately 6% to 13%, primarily used to assist schools in serving the most vulnerable groups, including students living in low-income communities and students with disabilities. The majority of the school's funding comes from taxes collected by various states and cities. The Associated Press said that in comparison, higher education institutions rely more on funding from Washington, such as research grants and aid for paying tuition fees to students. 鈥�
Save or destroy? 鈥�
The New York Times reported that there has been a profound partisan divide over education issues for decades, with 50 million public school students caught in between. The Republican attempt to shut down the Department of Education can be traced back to the 1980s. 鈥�
Finally getting rid of the US Department of Education, "Florida Governor DeSantis wrote in The Wall Street Journal on the 19th, stating that abolishing this department would usher in a new era of educational excellence in the United States. Trump will demonstrate leadership by fulfilling Republican campaign promises from 40 years ago. Fox News quoted Walters, the head of Oklahoma's public school system, as saying that Trump "will go down in history as the president who saved education and the future of the country. He believes that the Ministry of Education has not only failed to help implement an effective education system, but has also long been bought off by some radical teacher unions that promote DEI and other leftist ideologies in various states. 鈥�
Get rid of the Department of Education and hand over power to your parents. "Arkansas Governor Sanders recently wrote on Fox News that her first real job was at the Department of Education." I used to think I was there to change the world, but I found out that I spent more time replacing coffee filters. Sanders said that the Department of Education is essentially a transit point, sending funds from Congress to states, but the problem is that the department has created thousands of cumbersome regulations around these expenditures. Cancelling this department allows federal funds to flow freely to communities, rather than forcing states to obtain it through layers of checkpoints. 鈥�
Democratic Senator Murray said in a statement, "What is their ultimate goal (referring to the Trump administration)? To destroy public education in the United States." On the 19th, The Washington Post quoted the President of the National Education Association, Pringle, as saying that if Trump's executive order is successfully implemented, "it will expand school class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive, unaffordable for middle-class families, cancel special education services for disabled students, and undermine civil rights protection for students. According to a report by the Associated Press on the 20th, supporters of public schools believe that revoking the Department of Education will leave some children behind in the fundamentally unequal American education system. Former editor of the Associated Press, Dan Perry, wrote that "Trump's war on the Department of Education has undermined America's national status. 鈥�
USA Today reported that it is almost certain that Trump's executive orders will face legal challenges and "another test" of the limits of his presidential power. Previously, Trump and Musk attempted to bypass Congress and shut down government projects and agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development. 21 Democratic state attorneys general in the United States have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Department of Education's layoffs.