Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump to fulfill a campaign promise, signed an executive order on Thursday Closure of the educational departmentA republican agency has been talking about closing for decades.
According to the White House, the education secretary Linda McMahon is instructed to facilitate the closure of the department and at the same time ensure the effective and uninterrupted provision of services, programs and advantages to which the Americans rely on. “
The President accused the department for the delayed academic performance of America and said the states will do better work.
“We don’t do anything good,” he said at a ceremony of the White House.
Elimination of the department Overall, it would be a cumbersome task that would probably require an act of congress.
In the weeks since he took office, the Trump government has already Cut off the department of the department in two halves And overtook a vast part of the department’s work. Trump Adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency has shortened Dozens of contracts It was “awakened” and wasteful. The Institute for Education, which collects data on the country’s academic progress.
The main task of the agency is financially. Every year, it distributes billions of federal funds at universities and schools and manages the Federal Student Loan Sports Folio. Closing the department would mean redistribating each of these tasks to another agency. The educational department also plays an significant regulatory role in services for students who are opulent Disabilities to children with low income and homeless children.
In fact, the federal education allowance for Trump’s plans for universities and schools plays of central importance. Trump swore Cut federal money For schools and universities, the “” critical racial theory, transgender madness and other inappropriate racist, sexual or political content “and reward states and schools that end the term of office of teachers and support universal School selection programs.
Federal funding is a relatively tiny part of the public school budget – around 14%. Colleges and universities are more dependent on it through research grants together with the federal financial support that helps students pay their tuition fees.
Here is a look at some of the most significant functions of the department and as Trump said, he could approach them.
Student loans and financial lend a hand
The educational department manages around 1.5 trillion dollars of student loan debts for over 40 million borrowers. It also monitors the Pell scholarship, which helps students under a certain income threshold and manages the free application for state study aid ( Fafsa ), with which universities assign financial aid.
President Joe Biden’s administration made the cancellation of student loans a signature of the work of the department. Although Biden’s original attempt to cancel student loans was lifted from the Supreme CourtThe administration Forest Over 175 billion US dollars for more than 4.8 million borrowers through a number of changes to programs that you manage, such as: B. forgiveness for public service.
The efforts to forgiveness for the loans have been promoted Republican, including legal disputes several states held by GOP.
Trump has criticized Biden’s efforts to terminate debts as illegal and unfairly called it a “total disaster” that “mocked young people”. Trump’s plan for the debts of the students is uncertain: he has not published any detailed plans.
Enforcement of civil rights
Through its office for civil rights, the educational department conducts investigations and surveys on how to utilize civil rights laws, e.g. B. for LGBTQ+ students and students of colors. The office also monitors a vast data acquisition project, the differences in resources, course access and pursued discipline For students from different racist and socio -economic groups.
Trump proposed another interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. According to its administration, the department has instructed the office to set symptoms of priorities Anti -Semitism Above all and opened investigations into universities and school sports leagues to enable transgender athletes Competition in women’s teams.
In his campaign platform, Trump said that he would pursue civil rights cases in order to “discriminate against schools on the basis of the breed”. He described the diversity and equity policy in education as “explicit illegal discrimination”. His administration has Investigations started of dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination.
Trump has also undertaken to rule out Transgender students From the protection of titles IX, which influences the school guidelines on the utilize of pronouns, bathing rooms and changing rooms by the students. The title IX adopted in 1972 was used for the first time as the Women’s Rights Act. Last year the Biden government said that the law prohibits discrimination due to Gender identity and sexual orientationBut a federal judge rejected these protective measures.
College accreditation
While the educational department Colleges and universities do not directly accredit it, it monitors the system by checking all accreditation agencies that are generally recognized by the state. Institutions of university education must be accredited in order to receive access to federal money for the financial support of students.
The accreditation was examined by the conservatives in 2022 when the Southern Association of Colleges and schools questioned political interference Public universities in Florida and universities. Trump said that he would fire “radical left accrediters” and submit applications for recent accrediters that would maintain standards such as “defense of American tradition” and the removal of “Marxist” diversity administrators.
Although the education secretary has the authority to terminate his relationship with individual accreditation agencies, it is a tedious process that has been rarely pursued. Under President Barack Obama, the department took steps to cancel accreditors for a college chain, which has now been dissolved, but the Trump government blocked the move. The group, the accreditation council for independent universities and schools, ended in 2022 by the bidges administration.
Money for schools
Much of the money from the educational department for K-12 schools goes through vast federal programs such as titles I for schools with low income and the law on the formation of disabilities with disabilities. These programs support services for students with disabilities, lower sizes with additional teaching positions and pay for social workers and other non-teacher functions in schools.
During his campaign, Trump asked to move these functions to the states. He has not offered any details about how the core functions of the agency to send money to local districts and schools are treated.
The Heritage Foundation Project 2025A comprehensive proposal that was a right -wing extremist vision for the country offered a blueprint. It suggested that programs for children with disabilities and children with low incomes first send financing to the Ministry of Health and Human Services and the financing in the states were not converted into the NO-SACE scholarship.
