On March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively jumpstarting the gradual dismantling of the Department of Education. A major result of the order itself was the transfer of many powers previously overseen on a federal level to a state level. Though this executive order does not possess the power to fully dissolve the Department of Education, as Congress would have to approve a change of this extremity, the legislation effectively shrinks the outreach of the department and the benefits it provides for countless American citizens. Furthermore, “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,” as reported by epi.org. It is important to note that the D.E.I. (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiative applies not only to racial minority groups but also to other categories of society, including disabled and special needs individuals.
The direct blow that initiatives like D.E.I. experienced from this executive order is directly tied to the issue of federal funding and its relationship to control over the curricula of public schools. Whether the public educational institutions are high schools, elementary schools, or universities, because they are public, and therefore largely tied to the state, they are at the mercy of the state governments when it comes to designing their courses. Lawfully, the federal government has no power to directly dictate what public schools can and cannot teach, as this power is reserved for the states. This fact raises many questions regarding the Constitutionality of the Trump Administration’s implementation of curriculum restrictions in the American public education system.
Distribution of federal funds for public education, however, is a power designated to the federal government and one that the Trump Administration exercised thoroughly in its executive order designed to reduce the expansiveness of the Department of Education. More specifically, the administration’s actions leave programs, including the Child Nutrition Act, Title I, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I.D.E.A.), wondering if they will be able to rely on government funding to continue operating in the future. The Child Nutrition Act is essentially the backbone of providing free, nutritious meals for students in public schools to fuel them throughout the day and keep them healthy. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures free, public education for students with disabilities and learning disorders, in which their individual educational needs are met and accommodated. Title I is responsible for distributing additional funds to school districts with students from families with lower income levels. It is reasonable to assume that the reduction in funding of these organizations would result in a nerve-racking decline in the quality of life in public educational institutions.
When asked to share her knowledge on how the dismantling of the Department of Education will affect federal funding of public education, Mrs. Adrian Schellbach, AP Government teacher, explained how, “Federal funding will decline as the department becomes dismantled. States will then have sole responsibility to allocate funds as they see fit for their education programs. States have always had the ability to design their own curricular requirements–they will just have no accountability at the federal level anymore.” The issue with this system is that a lack of federal monitoring of state-allocated funds raises the question of whether or not these funds will be distributed to districts most in need and stay out of the hands of private educational institutions. Without adequate funding, public schools in impoverished and less fortunate districts will simply be unable to provide a high enough quality of education for students. This will leave them at a disadvantage and significantly lacking in opportunities to advance their knowledge and skills to be applied in later education and the real world.
Following these executive actions, many individuals are still left questioning the exact purpose of these many changes. The Trump Administration has outwardly expressed the purpose of this executive order as, “Returning [Department of Education] authority to the states,” as reported by epi.org, but one could argue that the full motivation extends beyond the desired redistribution of power between the central and state governments. As an example, one may consider the fact that decreasing the extent and focus on publicly funded education has been a part of the right-wing agenda for many years. This is not to say that this side of politics is looking to completely abolish public education as a whole, but it is evident that they are looking to at least decrease its prevalence in the American education system. Whether or not this situation is one of over-personalized political interests extending too far into policymaking is for each individual to decide, but it is most definitely a possibility.
On a large scale, the impacts of the attack on the Department of Education mean different things for different sectors of society. For example, if a family seeking an education for their children that aligns with their standards finds that their current education is too strongly restricted by the state, they do, if financially capable, have the ability to relocate. However, for much of the population that benefits from federal funding and curriculum monitoring, but not control of public education, relocation is not an option. When asked to share her opinion on how the attack on the Department of Education will affect the overall quality of education in the United States, Ms. April Wanex, English 10 Honors teacher, shared how, “The people with the fewest resources to relocate are likely the same families that the federal Department of Education has been instrumental in protecting,” leaving many individuals wondering what the future of education for themselves and their peers will look like in today’s America.
While the issue of this executive order and its effect on the Department of Education is classified as and spoken about as political, one could argue that it extends into the issue of human rights as well. America is built on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and is it too far of a stretch to assume that education falls in line with these principles? The future of the education system in America is unknown, but its value on a global level is undeniable. In the words of Mr. Andrew Prazeres, AP Human Geography teacher, “Education has long been the single greatest forward for social and economic mobility. And now that is changing dramatically and radically.”
