Explains Trump’s promise to close the Department of Education

Topline

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to close the federal Department of Education and shift all education responsibility to individual states – a move that could impact critical funding for K-12 schools and hamper civil rights enforcement – But experts warn it is unlikely it will be able to keep its hands off education regulation even if the department is closed.

Important facts

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Crucial quote

“We will drain the government’s education swamp and stop the misuse of your tax dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things you don’t want our youth to hear,” Trump said during a September rally in Wisconsin.

News Peg

Billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump superdonor who is expected to play some role in his next administration, called closing the Education Department a “good idea” on Monday. He also posted a meme with a photo of Carter and text that read: “In 1979 I founded the Department of Education. Since then, America has moved from 1st to 24th in education.” It is unclear what data these statistics are based on.

How could the Ministry of Education be abolished?

Closing the Education Department would require congressional action and likely a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate, according to The Washington Post. Republicans regained control of the Senate in last week’s elections but will remain several votes short of 60 votes, meaning any measure requiring 60 votes would require support from some Democrats. Closing the department was added as an amendment to a House vote in 2023 last year, and 60 Republicans voted against it, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a top House Republican who has endorsed Trump for the role of U.N. ambassador in his next government.

What is the Ministry of Education doing?

The Department of Education’s greatest responsibility is to provide federal education funding. Education in the current climate is ultimately the responsibility of state and local governments, but federal dollars supplement state resources and fund a variety of programs, many of which aim to close funding gaps for low-income or at-risk students. In fiscal year 2022, federal funding accounted for $119 billion, or about 14% of total education funding. Hallmark programs include Title I, which provides additional funding for high-poverty K-12 schools to hire teachers and otherwise support low-income communities, and the Office of Special Education Programs, which provides resources for students with disabilities up to the age of 12 21 years provided. The department is also responsible for collecting statistics on school enrollment, school crime, staffing, and other issues; making recommendations for education reform; conducting the Nation’s Report Card performance tests; investigating civil rights violations; and oversight of the federal student loan program, including the distribution of Pell grants.

What is the budget of the Ministry of Education?

In fiscal year 2024, the Department of Education was allocated $238 billion, less than 2% of the total federal budget.

What would closing the Department of Education mean for student loans?

Trump did not elaborate on what fate federal student loan programs would suffer if the Department of Education were abolished. In any case, the next administration is expected to take a much tougher approach to student loan forgiveness efforts compared to President Joe Biden’s administration. In June, Trump called Biden’s forgiveness plans “despicable” and said they were simply intended to “promote the election.”

What does Project 2025 say about the education department?

The 2025 project envisages the allocation of the department’s programs to other areas of the federal government. For example, civil rights enforcement in schools would fall under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department, the student loan program would be moved to a new sector in collaboration with the Treasury Department, and other programs would be moved to the Department of Health and Human Services, according to The Washington Post. The Project 2025 Education Plan calls for eliminating Title I funding (which supports students from low-income families) and instead awarding block grants to states without spending controls; cutting the Head Start program, which the Center for American Progress said would limit access to child care in rural areas and “exacerbate inequities among families with young children”; and undo Biden-era revisions to Title IX that prohibit discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Who else tried to eliminate the Department of Education?

Ronald Reagan advocated for abolishing it in 1980, Bob Dole advocated for abolishing it during his 1996 Republican presidential campaign against Bill Clinton, and two senators, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., called for it for its abolition in 2015. The arguments for abolition varied over time and included demands ranging from the federal government’s complete exit from education to its transformation into a funding agency to reallocating their programs to other agencies.

Big number

44%. According to a Pew Research survey released in August, many Americans have such a positive opinion of the Department of Education. There are wide partisan differences in assessments of the department: 27% of Republicans surveyed consider it positive, compared to 62% of Democrats. The Pew survey found the Department of Education ranked 14th on a list of 16 federal agencies in terms of endorsement, with the National Park Service (76% favorable), the U.S. Postal Service (72%) and NASA (67%) were positive. above. The Department of Justice (43%) and the IRS (38%) were the only agencies rated lower.

Further reading

Washington PostGOP candidates welcome Trump’s call to abolish the Education DepartmentForbesWhat is Agenda47? What you should know about Trump’s political agenda after the election victoryFrom Alison DurkeeForbesMusk reportedly took part in Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president: here’s everything they said about the collaborationFrom Mary Whitfill RoeloffsForbesProject 2025 Explained: What you should know about the right-wing political map before tonight’s vice presidential debateFrom Alison DurkeeForbesWhat we know about Trump’s connection to Project 2025 – as author claims ex-president ‘blessed’ it in secret recordingsFrom Alison Durkee