President Donald Trump issued a bold campaign promise to his voters: he would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and give states complete power to control education. The Department of Education plays a huge role in ensuring that every student has access to a good education, no matter their background or where they live. Eliminating it would remove important protections for students and teachers, making our education system more unfair, hurting students, teachers, and schools.
The Department of Education ensures that every student has the same opportunities to succeed, especially students from low-income families or those who face other challenges. The department enforces laws like Title IX, which protects students from gender discrimination, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that students with disabilities get the help they need. 18% of complaints dealt with race and national origin discrimination, including bullying and racist harassment from school officials. Without the Department of Education, these protections could be weakened, and students who already face difficulties could be left behind.
“I strongly believe that the role the Department of Education plays in funding schools and supporting students, especially those with disabilities, is so important to our country’s success that is must remain a cabinet-level agency,” Congressman John Mannion (D-NY), a former teacher, said to NewsChannel9.
The department also funds public schools across the country. Every year, it provides billions of dollars in grants to help schools improve, especially in low-income areas. Title I in particular provides necessary funding for children from low-income families. This funding is allocated to state and local education agencies based on census poverty estimates. In 2023, that amounted to over $18 billion.
If the department were shut down, this crucial funding would be left up to state governments. This would make the inequality between wealthy and less wealthy schools even worse, and students in underfunded districts would lose important resources.
Another important role the Department of Education plays is holding schools accountable. The department collects data and monitors schools to ensure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do: providing a quality education for every student. Additionally, while standardized testing isn’t perfect, it helps track how schools perform. Without the Department of Education, there would be no clear way to ensure schools meet basic standards, and it would be harder to identify and fix problems in the education system.
American education and its funding, that, if stripped away, will consequently harm individuals. The influences of careers and jobs in the department will be impacted as well.
“I think this will not only harm many students around the country, but this will make it hard for teachers and anyone involved in this career and just general education. The funding is already very low and now that’ll make it very hard for us to get any more funding,” senior Lové McGriff said. “It really influences the way that students will learn in general; if we’re not prioritizing education, then that’s gonna impact jobs and people growing up in America, so I just think education is a big priority and we shouldn’t be taking that away.”
Teachers also rely on the Department of Education for support. The department helps provide professional development programs, resources, and financial aid to teachers who need it. Teachers already face enough challenges, like low pay, overcrowded classrooms, and long hours, so shutting down the department would make it harder for teachers to get the support and training they need to succeed. The department also offers loan forgiveness and scholarships for teachers, which would most likely be gone if the department were eliminated.
State High librarian paraprofessional Anne Kapinus explained how the closing of the department could potentially impact libraries and generations of education.
“I worry that what will go hand in hand with that is him [Trump] placing an executive order and demanding that we ban so many of the books that we have here. We are very diverse in the materials that we order and I just really worry about how this will affect the kids and their education. Luckily the state has the majority of control when it comes to education and we are in a state that values education,” Kapinus said.
Trump’s proposal to close the Department of Education will worsen our nation from the inside out. The equal access to quality education, school funding, and support that the department offers devastates our country. Instead of shutting it down, we should work to make the Department of Education even stronger so that it can continue to help students and educators across the country.