Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education Costly to Students: Incalculable Damage Ahead

The Trump administration has all but accomplished what the Republican Party has been trying to do for more than 40 years. Although the U.S Education Department (ED) is not totally dismantled, the Trump administration has fired most of the employees and is moving offices and responsibilities to other federal agencies, essentially an end run around the law that only Congress can abolish a Department. Although Secretary of Education McMahon is doing her best to close the ED, its elimination is far from complete. 

We were warned early on that public education was in danger if Trump was reelected. He misled the electorate during his campaign by insisting that he shunned the conservative mandate known as Project 2025, but since being elected he has been adopting its ideas. Barely two months into his second term he published an executive order to close the ED, fully actualizing the proposed mission for the ED as stated on page 319 of Project 2025:

Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. - Heritage Foundation

History of the ED

The Republican Party’s efforts to abolish the ED began in earnest during the Reagan presidency, but Project 2025 is wrong to state that President Carter “created” the ED, since its roots are much older. The responsibility for public education was enacted in 1887 with the Congressional Act to Establish a Department of Education. The idea of forming this department originated with a resolution in 1885 to create a new government agency whose duty it would be to “enforce education upon the population without regard to color upon all such states that should fall below a standard to be established by Congress”.

Early on, there was political wrangling about that newly established agency, and at one point it was reduced to an office within the Department of the Interior. In 1979, it was restored to full departmental status through an Act of Congress, and the programs housed in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare formed the ED. 

At present, the Trump administration is transferring most of the K-12 programs of the ED to other agencies (e.g., departments of Interior, Health and Human Services, Labor, and State) by way of “partnerships.” However, with the labor reductions under DOGE, it is unknown how these departments will manage the K-12 programs and ED responsibilities.

Pushback against Destruction of the ED

The Trump administration has made significant progress in dismantling the ED but there is forcible pushback to stop and reverse the changes, some of which 4 Public Education outlined in a June 2025 blog, U.S. Dept of Education loses in Court and at Senate Hearings.

More recently, numerous members of the U.S. Senate sent a December 4th letter to Secretary McMahon objecting to the changes as outrageous and illegal, and warned that the changes will jeopardize the funding and support for tens of millions of students, teachers, and families across the country. In addition, instead of reducing the “bureaucratic bloat” and “red tape” in public education alleged in the Project 2025 directives, the senators pointed out that McMahon’s changes will: "Create even more bureaucracy that states, school districts, and educational institutions across America will have to expend time and resources navigating at the expense of students and families."

By law, if an agency desires to reorganize its internal structure, it can only do so if Congress has authorized the action. The Senate letter instructed that “Congress has unambiguously authorized dozens of education programs to be administered by the Department through numerous laws and has clearly appropriated funding on a bipartisan basis for decades to the Department to carry out those programs. Appropriations law prohibits the transfer of funds to another federal agency unless expressly authorized in appropriations law, which it has not done in this case.” Nevertheless, the Trump administration has illegally developed partnerships with six other agencies and has reassigned ED responsibilities to those agencies. 

Also, the twenty states that previously sued to stop the massive layoffs at the ED are now also challenging the transfer of major functions of the ED to other federal agencies, and the American Federation of Teachers is suing over those same changes. 

Impacts of Dismantling the ED

The original mission of the ED, established in 1877, was to protect a republican form of government from oligarchy by educating its citizens. This presents a clear counterargument to the faulty ideas that a federal education department is unnecessary. This assertion makes no sense when considering that the ED is responsible for ensuring equitable access to education and for providing federal funding and oversight to improve student achievement and global competitiveness. The ED is charged with managing student aid programs, enforcing civil rights laws, supporting innovations in education, collecting and disseminating data, and helping implement national education policy, especially for underserved groups. 

The Trump administration claims that changes to ED will return power to the states and parents; however, the original and current goal for an ED was to have a federal department to manage the differences (inequity) in the quality of public education within and among states because states are not able to do manage quality on a national level. 

There is no truth to the claim in Trump’s Executive Order that his plan would return control of the schools to the states. The responsibility for K-12 public education is already primarily a state and local fiscal responsibility and the Federal financial contribution to elementary and secondary education is only about 8 percent. Finally, it is the state, not the Federal government, that is responsible for curriculum development and local policies in the school system.

There is a concern that the critical functions assigned to the ED by Congress are in jeopardy. The Senate letter to Secretary McMahon expressed concern that the ED has spun off responsibilities “to other agencies that lack the expertise, capacity, and legal mandate to successfully administer key programs”. The senators objected to the serious and negative consequences already plaguing the early interagency agreements (IAAs). 

The NEA warned early in Trump's second term that his plans for “Stripping the department of its resources and mission would be catastrophic for the millions of students in low-income communities who need educational services and support. Civil rights protections against discrimination based on race, gender, and disability would also be gutted.” Shortly thereafter the NEA released its forecast that dismantling the ED will result in: 

• “Larger class sizes and less support for students and educators.

• Lower income students and their families in rural, suburban, and urban communities in every part of the country would lose needed funding.

• Students and families who receive support to attend college and vocational schools could lose Pell Grants or federal student loans, leading to more students dropping out, fewer choices, and less options for families.

• Students with disabilities and their families would lose the support they need at school and at home.

• Students with disabilities and lower-income students and their families would lose access to Upward Bound, TRIO and other programs that encourage them to participate in higher education.

• Cuts to afterschool and summer programs will undo the progress educators make with tutoring, reductions in chronic absenteeism, and providing skill-building programs.”

Another major concern is about the dismantling of ED’s research division, which provides information that is not available from any other source and is needed by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to inform their decision making. In an analysis by the NEA, it was concluded that: 

The administration canceled sweeping and impactful education research grants and cut most of the staff, with very few analysts left to conduct research that schools, policy makers, and the public rely upon. Without the research and data analysts to provide it, updated numbers required for formula funding for Title I schools hangs in the balance. Rather than reducing waste, experts say the cuts will create it. - National Education Association

How fitting is it that the current attempts to damage democracy should so vigorously attack the ED? Consequently, it seems appropriate that people are taking to the Congressional offices, State Houses, and the streets to fight for our right to quality, equitable, 21st Century public schools.

If you would like to learn more about changes to the ED during the Trump Administration, 4 Public Education has several blogs to help bring you up to date on the full range of changes to mission, funding, and regulations of the ED.

• US Dept of Education Threatens Northern Virginia School Districts By Vanessa Hall 7/31/25

• Federal Shorts: U.S. Dept of Education loses in Court and at Senate Hearings By Marianne Burke and Vanessa Hall 6/4/25

• Contact Your Legislators And Say "NO" to the Newest Voucher Scheme By Marianne Burke 5/12/25

• U.S. Dept of Education Demands "anti-DEI" Certification in Exchange for Student Funding By Vanessa Hall 5/1/25

• Scrambling Public Education: What Will Happen in the Next 100 Days? By Vanessa Hall 4/3/25

• Demanding the Impossible: Eliminating DEI in Public Education By Cheryl Binkley 4/18/25

• Federal Scene on Education is at a Turning Point: The Dismantling of U.S. ED By Cheryl Binkley 4/8/25

• Trump's Education Appointee has no IDEA about Public Education By Vanessa Hall 3/12/25

• Eliminating the US Department of Education will do more Damage than You Realize By Marianne Burke 2/13/25

• Wrestling the Dept of Education from Incompetence: McMahon’s Senate Hearings By Cheryl Binkley 2/12/25

• Executive Orders: A Real and Presidential Danger to Public Education By Vanessa Hall 2/6/25

• Trump's Dept of Edu-Propaganda By Vanessa Hall 1/28/25