The U.S. Department of Education has been under heightened scrutiny over the past few years, with the rocky rollout of the simplified version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the legal battle for student loan forgiveness under the Biden administration.
It’s once again on the chopping block as former President Donald Trump has proposed dissolving the Education Department when he enters the White House for a second term.
Here’s what eliminating the Education Department might mean for K-12 and higher education.
What Does the Department of Education Do?
Created in 1979 as a cabinet position under President Jimmy Carter, the Education Department disburses Title I funds to elementary and secondary schools with large low-income student enrollments; collects data on schools; oversees the recognition of accrediting agencies and programs that support higher education institutions; protects students against racial and sex-based discrimination; and manages student financial aid assistance programs, including loans and grants.
The department awarded about $114.1 billion in federal loans, grants and work-study funds in fiscal year 2023 to more than 9.7 million college students, according to the most recent Federal Student Aid annual unaudited report.
Will the Education Department Be Abolished?
Doing so would require congressional approval, which many experts find highly improbable.
Dissolving the Education Department is not a new idea. “Republicans have campaigned on getting rid of it and killing the agency since it was created,” says Gloria L. Blackwell, CEO of the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit that advances equity for women in higher education.
The opposition arises from a belief that authority to regulate education belongs with the states, since it’s not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution.
However, some Republican representatives may vote against axing the department, says Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. Many parents in Republican-controlled states, particularly rural areas, maintained support for the Education Department in past attempts to dismantle it and representatives listened to those concerns.
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But some observers feel the idea may be more plausible for this Trump administration, who announced Linda McMahon — his former administrator of the Small Business Administration and past pro-wrestling executive — as his pick for Secretary of Education Nov. 19. A universal school-choice advocate, McMahon served one year on the Connecticut Board of Education and 16 years as a trustee of the state’s Sacred Heart University.
“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a statement announcing her nomination.
There’s been a shift in the U.S. in which some people are “feeling that there’s too much control, too much oversight by the federal government in terms of education,” says Aron Boxer, founder and CEO of Diversified Education Services, an education consulting and tutoring company. “And because of that, the Trump administration coming in has this new initiative where they’re trying to … put everything to the states to make their own decisions.”
He adds that the COVID-19 pandemic brought the “idea of parents having more control in their children’s education more to the forefront.”
Public trust in many government agencies and institutions has declined in recent decades. For instance, the American public has mixed views of the Education Department: 45% see it as unfavorable, 44% find it favorable and 11% are unsure, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey. When broken down by political party, 64% of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents have an unfavorable view of the Education Department, while 62% of Democrats and respondents who lean Democrat hold a favorable view.
Even if the Education Department is not eliminated entirely, substantial changes are expected.
“The promise to dismantle the Department of Education has gotten the most headlines, but other promises are more likely to happen — and happen more quickly and be more impactful,” Welner says.
“Scrapping the Department of Education would be chaotic, complicated, and it would surely result in damage to the smooth running of important programs for K-12 students and those at colleges and universities. But moving people and programs from the Department of Education to other departments doesn’t in itself change what the federal government does. It’s those other proposals that change what the government does that are likely to be more impactful.”
Mike J. Sosulski, president of Washington College in Maryland, says the Education Department demonstrated a lack of communication and responsiveness under the previous Trump administration, which he worries could resume.
“It seems that the Trump administration’s approach last time, under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, was to simply not fill many of the posts in the agency,” he says. “So the result of that was when members of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities would attempt to contact people in the DOE, oftentimes there really wasn’t anyone to speak to the way there used to be under the Obama administration. And all administrations prior to that, actually, since the inception of the agency.”
What Happens to K-12 Education Without the Education Department?
Special Needs Protections
Dissolving the Education Department doesn’t necessarily eliminate the federal education laws that states must follow, says Weade James, senior director of K-12 education policy for the Center for American Progress, a public policy and research advocacy organization.
For example, two notable policies would remain on the books, so long as Congress continues appropriating money for them: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides federal funding for K-12 schools; and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensures students with disabilities are offered a free education tailored to their needs.
Without the Education Department, administration of these programs would be left completely up to the states, and the most vulnerable students could be most affected.
For IDEA funding, the federal government gives money to states based on a formula that factors in the number of students with disabilities. States then distribute that money to local school districts to provide special education services to eligible students, with the expectation that states will also contribute their own money to cover the full cost of services.
About 12% or 13% of the money used for students with special needs comes through federal IDEA funding, Welner says. If the Education Department is dissolved, this money would go to states as block grants, but the federal accountability for compliance would disappear, some say.
“What that means is (school) districts will be responsible for using that money however they choose, and hopefully it is the right way to serve students with disabilities,” James says. “There would be no oversight to ensure that those dollars are actually following and meeting the needs for students with IEPs and 504 plans.”
Title I Funding
Students from low-income families receive help through Title I of the ESEA. During fiscal year 2022, $15.6 billion was allocated for Title I funding. This money is typically used for educational technology, remedial instruction materials, internet and mental health services, among other things.
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Similar to the IDEA, Title I funding would initially move to block grants if the Education Department were dissolved. Such a move would likely result in a difficult transition with significant confusion at the state and district level, resulting in delays or failures in getting money where it should go, Welner says. This could also hurt test scores, attendance and graduation rates, student behavior and engagement, he says.
“There’s a desire to get rid of some of the red tape and make it easier for states to use the money in a way that makes sense locally, but when that happens we end up seeing the money not getting to the students who need it most,” he says. “There’s a reason we have support systems in place for students. If you take them away, students will lose opportunities to learn.”
Welner says it’s likely that if the Education Department is abolished, Title I funds will almost certainly be slashed and states will have to replace that money.
“What I would expect if I put on my prognosticator hat is that Title I will be cut,” he says, “but how much it’s cut is up in the air.”
Civil Rights Protections
Dissolving the Education Department could result in certain programs moving to different agencies, James says. For example, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which enforces federal laws against discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability or national origin in schools, would move under the direction of the Department of Justice.
“This would require parents to have the resources to pursue litigation to resolve any complaints,” she says. “That will create a lot more challenges for families to address concerns and complaints around civil rights.”
What Happens to Higher Education Without the Education Department?
Federal Aid Programs
Abolishing the Education Department doesn’t mean federal student aid programs would come to an end, experts say. These programs could instead be overseen by another federal agency or be dispersed to states. Federal student loans, for instance, may be moved to the U.S. Department of the Treasury or shifted to private, for-profit organizations.
“We hear a lot about devolving responsibility to individual states,” Sosulski says. “It’s very unclear at this point in time. If there is a plan, it hasn’t been made public.”
Pell Grants — federal awards based on financial need — are unlikely to be affected, given their bipartisan support. But the new Congress may vote to slash funding for federal college access initiatives, such as work-study or public service loan forgiveness, Blackwell says.
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Other experts argue that dissolving the agency won’t affect much. Many federal education programs predate the department, including ESEA — since renamed the Every Student Succeeds Act — and the Higher Education Act, says Frederick M. Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C.
“You can cut these programs dramatically without eliminating the department,” he says. “We could eliminate this department and have no impact on spending levels for these programs. The department is really just a home for some bureaucrats and bureaucratic machinery.”
Institutional Funding
The intention of the higher education proposals is “to actually free up money from going directly to the institutions themselves and allow a much more competitive environment for higher ed that don’t have the money to pay to the lobbyists to get some of the direct assistance that some of the larger or specialty universities get,” says Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, which aims to expand educational opportunities leading to better economic outcomes.
In the long run, she says, “an ambition, which every administration frankly has had, (is) to reduce the burdens and the bureaucracy on spending that eat up a lot of the money, open up the opportunities for a variety of different kinds of learning outside of your two- and four-year schools, and really insert some innovations that tie higher ed much more closely to workforce pathways or outcomes.”
However, some experts argue that eliminating the Education Department could create more challenges for institutions that rely more heavily on federal money, such as historically Black colleges and universities.
“If there’s uncertainty, if there’s delays in financial processing, then these colleges that require some type of funding for their infrastructure — just their general running of their institutions — could be at risk,” Boxer says. “When that happens, it has a top-down effect. College enrollment and access could drop.”
How to Navigate Changing Education Policies
Republicans and Democrats have historically held opposing philosophies about the role of the federal government in relation to states, with Republicans arguing any authority not explicitly outlined by the Constitution should remain with the states. This would allow decisions that affect daily life, such as education, to be decided by lawmakers at state and local levels rather than at the federal level.
These potential changes come amid shrinking confidence in higher education in the U.S. over the past two decades — particularly public education — and concerns about the growing cost of attending college. Recent opinion polls indicate that public satisfaction with the quality of the U.S. education system has declined to historic lows, with a majority expressing dissatisfaction.
Blackwell encourages families to stay informed and educate themselves on any policy changes.
“Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask questions,” she says. “Over the next few months and the next few years, certainly this is going to be changing and they need to make sure that they are doing what’s best for the future of their education and also for their professions down the road.”
It’s also important not to panic, Boxer says.
“I think families should act as if (the Education Department is) still going to be in place and that they can plan on there being financial aid,” he says. “Even for minority populations, apply for the loans, apply for the grants and just put your best foot forward. Because it would be a real shame if people started altering the plan that they’ve had in place for the last 18 years and then it doesn’t happen.”
Parents and advocates of K-12 students should also press education leaders and elected officials on what states and local districts will do to ensure that civil rights of students are protected and that Title I schools will receive necessary funding, James says.
“Now is the time more than ever to have these conversations,” she says. “Call your local lawmakers. Call your folks in Congress and let them know where you stand on these issues, where your community stands and how your children will be impacted.”
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What Happens if the Education Department Is Dissolved? originally appeared on usnews.com
