As the U.S. Department of Education shrinks in scope, politicians are fighting back with lawsuits and demanding the resignation of Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
The following article is a part of University Business’ ongoing coverage of the Department of Education’s fate under President Donald Trump.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for McMahon’s resignation amid the Trump administration’s latest steps to dissolve the department by moving several programs and functions to four other federal agencies. Warren said oversight of education is being handed over to people with no relevant expertise.
She explained that the Department of Labor will now be in charge of supporting K12 literacy, American history and civics, and Title I funding per this new arrangement, according to an op-ed she wrote for USA Today.
“Drink that in: Labor Department employees will decide which reading readiness programs to support for kindergartners,” Warren wrote.
Every aspect of public education will be impacted, including Title I funding for quality teachers and new textbooks, she added.
“School administrators are concerned that these changes may result in bigger class sizes, fewer afterschool and tutoring programs, and not enough workbooks for our kids because federal funding isn’t coming through,” Warren wrote.
She closed by arguing that McMahon “has no business” serving as the head of the Education Department, suggesting that anyone whose mission it is to dismantle America’s public education system should reconsider their role in government.
The nation’s reaction
The 1979 law that established the Education Department gives the secretary some room to restructure the agency, but not to the degree the Trump administration has enforced, according to a complaint filed by 20 states and the District of Columbia.
“Defendants know that they cannot close the Department without Congress’s consent, which Congress has not provided—or given any indication of providing,” the complaint, filed Nov. 25, reads. “To get around Congress, Defendants have set about systematically dismantling the Department: staff, programs, funds.”
The administration’s actions are anything but lawful, the lawsuit continued.
The Trump administration’s strategy of shrinking the Education Department’s workforce and redistributing its programs and funding did not come without warning. In March, Trump issued an executive order that marked the beginning of the closure process.
“Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” the order reads. It also forecasted that significant changes would be made to policy, ultimately allocating education authority back to the states.
In a White House Press briefing on Nov. 20, McMahon backed the Department’s reallocations of K12 program oversight, arguing that “these interagency agreements to cut our own bureaucratic bloat are a key step in our efforts to shift educational authority from Washington, D.C., to your state education agency, your local superintendent, your local school board—entities that are accountable to you.”
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., are joining forces with college and high school students to rebuke these efforts.
During a virtual press conference held by “Hands Off Our Schools”—a coalition of student government leaders from Washington, D.C.—Markey said that the “dismantling of the Department will have immediate negative consequences for students, for families, for schools nationwide,” Government Executive reports.
The administration isn’t cutting the red tape, but “intentionally breaking the programs that ensure the promise of education is delivered to every single student,” Markey added.
School superintendents are also concerned about the consistency of federal support for students moving forward, according to a statement that AASA, The School Superintendents Association, issued shortly after the announcement.
“While we share the goal of improving efficiency and effectiveness in federal education programs, it is difficult to see how transferring cornerstone programs, such as Title I and the Rural Achievement Program, out of the Department will result in streamlined operations, especially for the nation’s small, rural, and low-capacity districts,” wrote AASA Executive Director David Schuler.
“Many districts already operate with limited administrative capacity, and adapting to new oversight structures, reporting protocols, and guidance could require resources that are better directed toward students.”
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