President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday he said would “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”
READ MORE: School board members weigh in on Department of Ed’s fate after one shares views on CNN
The order directs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states,” which already handle the bulk of education funding and determine curriculum.
The department cannot be closed without Congressional authorization because it was the legislature that created it in 1979. There is legislation in the House of Representatives to do just that, sponsored by the Cape Fear’s Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC7), though it has not made it to a floor vote.
Rouzer issued a statement after the order was signed.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we’ve taken a bold step toward returning education where it truly belongs,” Rouzer wrote. “Dismantling the Department of Education so that we can return education and its funding back to the states is a win for students, parents, and our country.”
White House Press Secretary Karolina Leavitt clarified the department would not go away, rather “become much smaller than it is today.” The department already terminated 1,300 employees last week in accordance with cuts from billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The directive for the department to maintain an uninterrupted delivery of services, programs and benefits; Leavitt has said Title I funding, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding, as well as Pell grants and student loans would still be administered by the department for the time being.
New Hanover County Schools has received around $20 million from the federal government this year and it has already been obligated, so any changes to funding would occur in the next fiscal year beginning in July.
It is unclear what will happen to other components of the department, including the Office of Civil Rights, which is currently sanctioning NHCS for its disproportionate suspension of Black students with “emotional disturbance.”
The office also oversees schools’ adherence to federal anti-discrimination laws, including Title IX. While these laws would remain regardless of the department’s existence, it is unclear what entity would be responsible for collecting data on compliance.
The Department of Education also conducts research and compiles data for school districts to use across the country; this has historically helped shape department policy and even laws.
It is also unclear if and how the department will continue issuing research grants. In North Carolina alone, public universities receive more than $1 billion in annual research funding, though not all this comes from the U.S. Department of Education.
The Trump administration has already pulled grant funding from $400 million from Columbia University for allegedly failing to protect Jewish students amid protests over the Israel-Hamas war. It also took away $175 million from the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a women’s swimming team.
President Trump’s and Rep. Rouzer’s dislike of the U.S. Department of Education and their reasoning behind calling for its termination is not new; Rouzer himself has introduced his bill, which would turn over the department’s powers to the state, five other times in previous years.
Conservatives against the department claim it is unconstitutional because the Constitution does not explicitly mention education; the 10th amendment states “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
However, the department was deemed constitutional under the Commerce Clause, though the authority to determine curricula, establish educational standards or create schools or colleges lies explicitly with the states.
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