Executive Order on closing the Department of Education
On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order to begin shutting down several functions of the Department of Education (DOE) and send many functions of the DOE to the states. The order also mandated that any program that receives funds from the Department of Education must end any focus on diversity, equity or inclusion, as a condition of receiving the federal funds. This Executive Order comes after the White House directed the DOE to lay off 1,300 employees (a directive that is currently in litigation).
While closing the Department of Education, and reappropriating major funding programs like those under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), would require an act by Congress, this EO furthers a longstanding right-wing agenda to eliminate free, publicly-funded education for children and sows confusion for districts regarding whether they will be able to count on key revenue sources, like funding for Title 1, IDEA and the Child Nutrition Act in the coming years .
90% of all US students attend public K-12 schools, and the Department of Education provides funding for those schools, narrowing gaps between needed resources and state and local revenue. These resources help balance the scales of school funding, as high-poverty districts often get less funding from local sources. The Trump administration claims that this executive order is not about reducing funding for schools, but about “returning [Department of Education] authority to the states.” But most of the money distributed by the Department of Education already goes directly to the states and local school systems. The federal funding that does goes to public schools reduces inequities in district funding: 51% goes to the third of districts with the greatest need (as measured by district poverty), while only 18% goes to the third of districts with the lowest neighborhood poverty. It is important that the Department of Education continue to administer these funds, rather than leaving it all to the states, to ensure fairness for the districts that need federal money the most.
To be clear, the DOE has no authority to set curriculum. EO’s restriction on providing federal funds to any program that continues goals of improving racial equity, gender equity, or accessibility is an attempt by the Trump administration to actually bring state and local education more under federal control, by attempting to dictate what is acceptable to discuss in teacher curriculums, training programs, or school policies. The Trump administration’s prior Executive Order, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” is an illegal overreach by the federal government to control curriculum in public K-12 schools and it is unclear whether the Trump administration has legal authority to make this demand over curriculum decisions – the Department of Education has no authority over what schools do or don’t teach. Moreover, the EO furthers the Trump administration’s attacks on public education in favor of privatization and voucher schemes. Privatization is not a serious option to improve schools: studies have shown that students that took vouchers to private schools often performed worse on standardized tests (see evaluations of the evidence here, and here). Private schools have none of the accountability or transparency requirements to students, parents or the public that public schools do. In Milwaukee, WI , nearly 40 percent of voucher schools failed or closed between 1991 and 2015. Students need dependable education. A strong research base indicates that public schools would benefit from higher levels of resources, with dollars translating directly into higher test scores and better post-school outcomes for students.
https://www.epi.org/policywatch/executive-order-on-closing-parts-of-the-department-of-education/