As Trump’s administration heads into office this year, it is highly important to be aware of the potential changes that will be made in our country. One of the most notable changes that his administration is planning to make is the demolition of the Department of Education, a governing agency in the United States that ensures and protects a student’s right to education, and the many private and public U.S. education administrations.
During his recent campaign, Trump stated how he would shut down the Department of Education, and give ultimate power to each individual state on what and how students should be taught at schools.
While this new change has sparked conversations recently, Trump and his administration had been planning the closing of the Department of Education since 2016, but then was later shut down due to opposition from Congress, according to npr.org.
The demolition of the Department of Education has pivotal effects on how students are taught, and how they are treated within school administrations. This includes reversing Title IX, a federal civil rights law that protects students of any race or gender from unfair treatment in educational facilities, according to edweek.org
By giving each individual state the power to follow Title IX or not creates an ethical problem that has been deeply rooted and fought for in our country. This decision could lead to students becoming even more subject to injustice in a place where it should be taught that learning opportunities belong to everyone, regardless of what a student identifies as.
Another possible effect of the dismantlement of the Department of Education is school funding, an issue that already exists and greatly impacts multiple school districts across the country. The Trump administration has stated that they will cut down on Title I, a federal education program that provides funds for low-income students. Instead of using Title I, the Trump administration plans to turn these funds into “no-strings-attached block grants”, which can further widen the gap between low-income students and high-income students in the United States, according to texasaft.org.
The cutting of federal funds deeply impacts not only K-12 schools but also colleges, which heavily rely on government funding and taxing to give students federal aid. By cutting federal funds, students seeking higher education could be robbed from opportunities due to little to no student aid.
Not only does the Trump Administration want to cut federal funding and reverse Title IX, but his administration is also planning to heavily censor topics such as gender identity and structural racism, claiming that it is “left-wing indoctrination”, according to pbs.org.
This censorship can have the power to ban educational movies and books that are taught in classrooms today. The censorship of these topics have the potential to erase American history, and America at its core. Without students learning about topics such as racism and gender identity, everything that has ever been fought for regarding equity and equality gets lost in translation, and ultimately creates a narrow-minded mindtrack for the future of America.
For the Department of Education to deconstruct completely, an act of Congress is needed, making these plans to uproot and deconstruct the Department of Education impractical. Because of the need for money, and the power the Department of Education holds that the Trump administration can use to “fulfill its other commitments”, rather than completely destroying the Department of Education, it seems as though the Trump administration will be making stark changes to how the Department of Education will function, according to npr.org.
As of now, Trump has nominated Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education.
This pick poses a question on whether or not she could pull off getting a unanimous 60 votes in the Senate to shut the Department of Education down, which is highly unlikely and an extremely difficult task to pull off, even if Republicans take up more chairs, according to npr.org
For now, the plans for the Department of Education seem indefinite, but it is clear that there is a possibility of seeing vastly different changes in the future of education for American students.
