From “creative destruction” to “political theater,” education leaders are not mincing words about President Donald Trump’s executive order to begin shutting down the Department of Education.
While a federal agency can only be closed by an act of Congress, the Trump administration is whittling down the department’s staff and responsibilities. Education Secretary Linda McMahon laid off about 50% of the department’s workforce within a week of being sworn in.
“This is political theater, not serious public policy,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “The administration and Congress should focus on improving on the important work that the department performs that benefits ordinary Americans, not unilateral and thoughtless cuts to the department’s workforce and ability to serve Americans.”
Other leaders are concerned about the impact the executive order has on financial aid disbursement.
“Dismantling the Department in haste could cripple the government’s ability to accurately distribute billions in federal student aid, putting millions of students at risk—especially low-income students who lack a financial safety net,” said Beth Maglione, interim CEO and President of NASFAA.
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Secretary McMahon stated the executive order will “eliminate the bureaucracy” surrounding education, and that the federal government still plans to assist students who rely on essential programs. “Instead of filtering resources through layers of federal red tape, we will empower states to take charge and advocate for and implement what is best for students, families, and educators in their communities.”
Amy Loyd, CEO of All4Ed, a student advocacy nonprofit, finds this kind of rhetoric obfuscates the role of the department. “When Trump and his allies claim they are ‘giving control back to the states,’ they are lying to the American people—because states already have that control,” she said. “Our new reality, after the painful cuts, means that students and families have nowhere to go when their civil rights are infringed upon.”
‘Creative destruction in higher ed?’
Richard Fossey, professor emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette teaching graduate-level courses in education law and policy, rejects these claims. The department’s Office of Civil Rights “hasn’t prevented the emergence of racism and antisemitism at the universities—particularly elite institutions like Harvard and Columbia,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “In fact, colleges are displaying more bigotry than at any time since the McCarthy era.”
Fossey also believes the department has done a “terrible job” overseeing the student loan program and was wholly responsible for the botched FAFSA rollout last admission cycle. “Of course, one mistake, even a massive screwup like the FAFSA debacle, is not a justification by itself for closing a federal agency. Nevertheless, over the years, DOE has shown itself unable to monitor the venal for-profit college industry properly or to rein in college costs, which have gone up year after year partly due to massive infusions of federal cash.”
Richard Vedder, senior fellow at libertarian think tank Independent Institute, concedes that efforts to dismantle the department have moved in “a somewhat chaotic fashion.” But, he adds, the federal agency has proven “highly inefficient” and its administration of “federal funding has not had the productive effects it was supposed to.”
A former economics professor at Ohio State University, Vedder believes that amid declining public trust in higher education, the sector should attempt to mirror the competitive structure of private industry. “Why don’t we try a little more creative destruction in higher ed? Somehow the public has seemed less interested in their product, and the government regulations have worked negatively.”
Regardless of the Education Department’s fate, SHEEO President Rob Anderson urges the federal government to stay engaged with the needs of students. “Higher education is a shared responsibility between the states and the federal government, and SHEEO will continue to work with policymakers to represent the needs and concerns of our members.”
