Associated Press
Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump heaped scorn on the federal Department of Education, describing it as being infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”
He has picked Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive, to lead the department. But like many conservative politicians before him, Trump has called for dismantling the department altogether — a cumbersome task that likely would require action from Congress.
The agency’s main role is financial. Annually, it distributes billions in federal money to colleges and schools and manages the federal student loan portfolio. Closing the department would mean redistributing each of those duties to another agency. The Education Department also plays an important regulatory role in services for students, ranging from those with disabilities to low-income and homeless kids.
Indeed, federal education money is central to Trump’s plans for colleges and schools. Trump has vowed to cut off federal money for schools and colleges that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” and to reward states and schools that end teacher tenure and enact universal school choice programs.
Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%. Colleges and universities are more reliant on it, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.
Here is a look at some of the department’s key functions, and how Trump has said he might approach them.
Student loans and financial aid
The Education Department manages approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for over 40 million borrowers. It also oversees the Pell Grant, which provides aid to students below a certain income threshold, and administers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which universities use to allocate financial aid.
The Biden administration has made cancellation of student loans a signature effort of the department’s work. Since Biden’s initial attempt to cancel student loans was overturned by the Supreme Court, the administration has forgiven over $175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers through a range of changes to programs it administers, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
The loan forgiveness efforts have faced Republican pushback, including litigation from several GOP-led states.
Trump criticized Biden’s efforts to cancel debt as illegal and unfair, calling it a “total catastrophe” that “taunted young people.” Trump’s plan for student debt is uncertain: He has not put out detailed plans.
Civil rights enforcement
Through its Office for Civil Rights, the Education Department conducts investigations and issues guidance on how civil rights laws should be applied, such as for LGBTQ+ students and students of color. The office also oversees a large data collection project that tracks disparities in resources, course access and discipline for students of different racial and socioeconomic groups.
Trump has suggested a different interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. In his campaign platform, he said he would pursue civil rights cases to “stop schools from discriminating on the basis of race.” He has described diversity and equity policies in education as “explicit unlawful discrimination” and said colleges that use them will pay fines and have their endowments taxed.
Trump also has pledged to exclude transgender students from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms. Originally passed in 1972, Title IX was first used as a women’s rights law. This year, Biden’s administration said the law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, but Trump can undo that.
College accreditation
While the Education Department does not directly accredit colleges and universities, it oversees the system by reviewing all federally recognized accrediting agencies. Institutions of higher education must be accredited to gain access to federal money for student financial aid.
Accreditation came under scrutiny from conservatives in 2022, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools questioned political interference at Florida public colleges and universities. Trump has said he would fire “radical left accreditors” and take applications for new accreditors that would uphold standards including “defending the American tradition” and removing “Marxist” diversity administrators.
Although the Education Secretary has the authority to terminate its relationship with individual accrediting agencies, it is an arduous process that has rarely been pursued. Under President Barack Obama, the department took steps to cancel accreditors for a now-defunct for-profit college chain, but the Trump administration blocked the move. The group, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, was terminated by the Biden administration in 2022.
Money for schools
Much of the Education Department’s money for K-12 schools goes through large federal programs, such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Those programs support services for students with disabilities, lower class sizes with additional teaching positions, and pay for social workers and other non-teaching roles in schools.
During his campaign, Trump called for shifting those functions to the states. He has not offered details on how the agency’s core functions of sending federal money to local districts and schools would be handled.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a sweeping proposal outlining a far-right vision for the country that overlaps in areas with Trump’s campaign, offers a blueprint. It suggests sending oversight of programs for kids with disabilities and low-income children first to the Department of Health and Human Services, before eventually phasing out the funding and converting it to no-strings-attached grants to states.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
24 comments
White Spiteful Demon
November 20, 2024 at 7:08 am
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A day without Libturds
November 20, 2024 at 12:16 pm
Trump is your president! Say it my little libturd supremacist!
White Spiteful Demon
November 20, 2024 at 6:36 pm
He will be the President of the US,but I will do everything to undermine his agenda and undermine people that support him like you
Victoria Olson
November 20, 2024 at 9:30 am
Of course he would dumb people are easier to control & lie to as they would have the education to know that their rights are being abused they become 1800 in knowledge in which only the rich could afford education, it’s about power & control.
ScienceBLVR
November 20, 2024 at 9:45 am
I’m guessing many people who never attended a college or university voted for Trump, but of course don’t realize that 2 trillion cuts in the budget just might eliminate a government program they or a family member benefits from .. oops. Like maybe their kids use PELL grants for college or require special services in k-12 funded by DOE.. to put the WWE chick in charge, priceless!
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
November 20, 2024 at 10:19 am
Educated people should know better of Trump policies are grounded in racism,maybe he want to keep lots of White people ignorant like him
A day without Libturds
November 20, 2024 at 12:18 pm
Cry more, libturd trash! You will always be a pathetic loser
A day without Libturds
November 20, 2024 at 12:17 pm
Muh education ain’t making you any smarter. After all you’re still a libturd retard.
PeterH
November 20, 2024 at 12:20 pm
Education did nothing for Trump. He’s filed 6 bankruptcies that the losses were subsidized by American taxpayers.
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
November 20, 2024 at 2:56 pm
I am.more educated than you will not be in another lifetime
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
November 20, 2024 at 2:58 pm
Maybe you should apply at Trump University
White Spiteful Demon
November 20, 2024 at 6:38 pm
Trash like you are to dumb to realize, Trump used you like a sanitary napkin to be discarded
PeterH
November 20, 2024 at 12:18 pm
Here is a fun fact analysis by economist Larry Summers:
Musk wants to cut $2 trillion dollars from the budget. If Musk and Trump fired every single Federal employee including Congress and the White House …… the wage savings would amount to no more than 15% of the $2 trillion goal.
Fred S
November 20, 2024 at 2:12 pm
Are you seriously that ignorant? The vast majority of the federal budget is transfer payments – taking from one hand to give to the other. Eliminating useless government programs and the employees that operate them means both the transfer payments and employee costs are eliminated. Helps to think before regurgitating nonsense.
Mark
November 22, 2024 at 11:37 am
Sure, Fred. Do you have any sources to support that?
Fred S
November 20, 2024 at 2:08 pm
Too many ignorant comments here by leftwing bedwetters, but a simple question: Since the DOE was founded by President Carter how much taxpayer money has been spent and has the performance of US public primary and secondary schools improved? Reality is a b@t@h….
Peter Berlin
November 20, 2024 at 2:55 pm
I very much like Trump’s proposals.
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
November 20, 2024 at 3:00 pm
He should cut money for fema Begging ass too
Fred S
November 20, 2024 at 10:08 pm
Too many ignorant comments here by leftwing bedwetters, but a simple question: Since the DOE was founded by President Carter how much taxpayer money has been wasted and has the performance of US public primary and secondary schools improved? Facts hurt….
Fred S
November 21, 2024 at 8:56 am
Hey Florida Politics staff.. Do you only “moderate’ comments with which you don’t agree?
JD
November 21, 2024 at 10:25 am
It’s an algorithm with certain trigger words, number of times you post, who you reply too.
Fred S
November 21, 2024 at 7:17 pm
Then you need a more sophisticated algorithm.
JD
November 22, 2024 at 8:59 am
Talk to FP.
Comments are closed.