WASHINGTON − Teachers, parents and students may be wondering what might change on college and K-12 campuses, amid the bluster from the Trump administration about shuttering the Department of Education.
President Donald Trump wants to kill the department to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” according to a draft of a preliminary executive order reviewed by USA TODAY.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, disputed reports that Trump planned to sign a potential order Thursday, but did not rule out later action. A White House official told USA TODAY Trump is still considering executive actions that would reshape the Education Department.
The Constitution doesn’t give Trump the power to close the department because it was created through legislation, and the president can’t unilaterally overturn laws. Trump has not challenged the legislation creating the department as unconstitutional, which would kick the issue to the courts to sort out.
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So can the president, technically, shutter the agency anyway? Here’s where things stand:
Has the Trump administration altered the education system?
The president’s broader rapid-fire agenda has already disrupted major segments of the American education system.
Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency has terminated millions of dollars in education research contracts, effectively decimating the Education Department’s data-collecting branch. Universities are in a holding pattern amid a court battle over proposed cuts to money on which they rely heavily. Grant funding for researchers has separately been frozen, jeopardizing graduate admissions and posing a threat to college budgets.
The Education Department itself, meanwhile, has been beset with layoffs, buyouts and administrative turnover, which has caused frustrations internally and is already hampering its functions. Another “very significant” reduction in workforce is coming, the agency’s human resources chief warned employees late last week, before urging them to take a $25,000 offer to quit or resign within days.
How was the Education Department created?
Congress created the current Cabinet-level department in 1979 through bipartisan legislation that consolidated various educational programs that were previously spread across different agencies.
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The department provides billions of dollars annually to low-income public schools and billions more to help millions of Americans pay for college.
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Trump promised to ‘close’ the Education Department
Trump campaigned to eliminate the Department of Education, which Republicans have long said holds too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. Trump told reporters last month he hoped Education Secretary Linda McMahon would put herself “out of a job.”
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“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, rather than propping up a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.,” he said on the campaign trail. “We want to close the federal Department of Education.”
Education in K-12 schools, however, is already handled largely at the state and local levels. Public schools are primarily controlled by school boards and get most of their funding through allocations from state legislatures and local sources, typically in the form of property taxes.
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Yet the federal government does provide roughly a tenth of public school funding – a small but significant portion of their budget. To keep getting that money, schools must comply with federal laws.
Does the Constitution allow Trump to kill the department?
The Constitution gives Congress the power to pass laws and directs the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Because the department was created by Congress, Trump cannot close it on his own.
McMahon, the new education secretary, acknowledged that during her confirmation hearing.
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McMahon said she “understands” the need to work with Congress to downsize the agency and said a plan is being crafted to create a “better-functioning Department of Education.”
“We’d like to do this right,” she said, adding later that the agency “clearly could not be shut down without” Congress.
Many of the offices within the department were also established by law, so legislation would be needed to close them or transfer their functions to other agencies.
McMahon stressed that key funding streams – such as Pell Grants, federal student loans and Title I financial assistance for low-income schools – would not be affected by the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize.
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Could Congress abolish the department?
Congress could abolish the department through legislation. But while Republicans control the House and Senate, they don’t have a filibuster-proof margin in the Senate. That means at least seven Democrats would have to go along, which is highly unlikely.
Contributing: Joseph Garrison
