Impact of Dismantling the Department of Education on Southern California Schools. In a widely expected move, President Donald Trump will at any minute issue an executive order—or a series of orders—aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (ED), while also urging Congress to abolish it outright. The department says that education is “primarily a state and local responsibility” in America, and most funding for curricula development comes from these levels. If you’d like to know more about the impact of dismantling the Department of Education on Southern California schools in detail, please keep reading the article below.
Impact of Dismantling the Department of Education on Southern California Schools
The Trump administration is poised to issue executive orders that would dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, defunding many of its programs and shifting functions to other agencies. While outright eliminating the department would need an act of Congress, the administration is predicted to try to get as close as possible through executive actions—even when those actions may be illegal. There are many unknowns in terms of how this might play out in the executive branch and through legal challenges in the courts, but all of the likely scenarios create harmful risks for students and families.
The decisions taken by the Trump administration to dismantle the Education Department are already facing criticism. 61% of likely voters say they would oppose the Trump administration’s use of an executive order to abolish the Education Department, according to a poll conducted by Data for Progress on behalf of Student Borrower Protection Center and Groundwork Collaborative. Meanwhile, just 34% of respondents approve of such a move. The survey of 1,294 people was conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.
Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Education, expressed in solidarity Thursday with his objective of dismantling the department—an alteration that could impact how billions of dollars in K-12 funding, monetary aid and student loans flow to California schools and colleges. During her Senate confirmation hearing, she assured lawmakers that federal funding for underprivileged students would continue, including funds for students with disabilities and Title I funding for schools serving low-income families. The education department also helps low-income college students and students who are learning English and protects students’ civil rights.
It is still not clear if Trump will tie funding to states’ adherence to his orders, including banning transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s teams and stopping diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
90% of U.S. students and 95% of students with disabilities learn in our public schools. Students across the country have benefited from programs run by the Department of Education. Eliminating the department, National Education Association President Becky Pringle said this week, was equivalent to “giving up on our future.”
“If it became a reality,” Pringle said, “Trump’s power grab would steal resources for our most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.” “Americans did not vote for, and do not support,” she added, “ending the federal government’s commitment to guaranteeing equal educational opportunities for every child.”
The key programs that would be impacted are:
- Title 1, which directs money to schools with a high percentage of students living in poverty and offers supports such as reading specialists and smaller class sizes, could be destroyed if, as proposed in Project 2025, it is turned into block grants and distributed to individual states—without any sort of accountability or supervision.
- Roughly 7.5 million students, or 15 percent of the student population, get special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which gives $15 billion to help students with disabilities. Students who have disabilities receive the assistance and resources they are entitled to.
- Many believe the White House is to move the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, a move that would significantly reduce its ability to safeguard students against discrimination based on race, gender, and disability. The lack of strong federal supervision would render millions of students vulnerable to discrimination, resulting in lower levels of inspiration and academic achievements and a higher risk of dropping out.