Trump wants to destroy American education

The promise of eliminating the department gains strength, but research shows that only 17% of Americans support their extinction. What’s next?

Republican presidential candidates often promised to abolish the Department of Education. In 1983, Ronald Reagan said he should be extinguished. Mitt Romney promised to make this happen in 2012. A decade later, Betsy Devos, former secretary of education under the Trump administration, said his department should not exist. And Trump said he expects Linda McMahon, his education secretary, “put yourself out of a job.” It is in half: on March 11, the administration announced that it will resign more than 1,300 employees, cutting the workforce in half.

The Department of Education was created in 1979 by Jimmy Carter. Trump says that abolishing the agency will return education to states, but they already control most of what primary and secondary schools do: the Education Department only finances about 10% of their budgets.

So, what does it fit? He plays a role in protecting the most vulnerable students, says John King, former secretary of education in the Barack Obama government, providing additional funding to poor and disabled students. It also manages financial assistance to more than 12 million college students. In addition, it collects data, which allows states to compare with each other.

The department also supervises the application of civil rights in schools, a task that Trump seems eager to maintain. In February, the civil rights office within the department announced investigations at five universities because of “widespread anti -Semitic harassment” on the campuses.

So far, the cuts fall short of the total blow Trump has promised. This may reflect a political calculation: according to a research from the The Economist/Yougov, only 17% of Americans want the department to be eliminated. But that may not be the final state.

Congress could transfer the administration of student loans to the Treasury and support for special education to the Health Department, possibly reducing both in the process. He would then have done what Reagan failed and would add another point to his list of promises fulfilled.

Via The Economist*