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White House sets up battles in Congress, courts by moving to shut Department of Education

By law, the U.S. executive can't unilaterally shut down the agency without congressional approval

Linda McMahon, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Education, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Feb. 13. (Tierney Cross/Reuters)

Linda McMahon, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Education, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Feb. 13. (Tierney Cross/Reuters)

U.S. President Donald Trump will sign a long-anticipated executive order on Thursday that aims to shut down the Department of Education, acting on a key campaign pledge, according to a White House summary seen by Reuters.

"Federal government control of education has failed students, parents and teachers," the White House said in its summary. It said that the department had spent over $3 trillion US since its creation in 1979 without improving student achievement as measured by standardized test scores.

Even before it was signed, the order was being challenged by 20 Democratic state attorneys general, who filed a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from dismantling the department and halt planned layoffs.

The NAACP, a leading civil rights group, also blasted the expected order as unconstitutional.

"This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have attempted to shut down government programs and institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development without congressional approval, but abolishing the Department of Education would be Trump's first bid to shut down a cabinet-level agency.

Republicans have talked about closing the Education Department for decades, saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into decisions that should fall to states and schools. The idea has gained popularity recently as conservative parents' groups demand more authority over their children's schooling.

 

Democrats slam plans

Trump cannot shutter the agency without congressional legislation, which could prove difficult. Trump's Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but major legislation, such as a bill eliminating a cabinet-level agency, would need 60 votes and thus the support of seven Democrats to pass.

Senate Democrats have given no sign they would support abolishing the Education Department.

"Trump and Musk are taking a wrecking ball to the Department of Education and firing half its staff," Democratic Senator Patty Murray said in a statement, vowing to fight what she called "Trump and Musk's slash-and-burn campaign."

A young girl holds a sign on a sidewalk near adults in an apparent demonstration. The sign says 'Save Department of Education.'
Sarah Cummings carries a protest sign to save the Department of Education while joining other protesters outside a Tesla showroom and service centre in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Saturday. (Richard Vogel/The Associated Press)

The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure [of] the Department of Education and return education authority to the states, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs and benefits on which Americans rely."

It mandates that any programs or activities receiving remaining Department of Education funds should not "advance DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] or gender ideology," according to the White House summary.

The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general argues that the massive job cuts will render the agency unable to perform core functions authorized by statute, including in the civil rights arena, effectively usurping Congress' authority in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

It said McMahon "is not permitted to eliminate or disrupt functions required by statute, nor can she transfer the department's responsibilities to another agency outside of its statutory authorization."

Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the department, calling it "a big con job," without offering specific critiques. He proposed shuttering it in his first term as president, but Congress did not act.

 

Provides grants for schools in some areas

The department's defenders say it is crucial to keeping public education standards high, while accusing Republicans of trying to push for-profit education. An immediate closure could disrupt tens of billions of dollars in aid to K-12 schools and tuition assistance for college students.

McMahon, co-founder and former CEO of the WWE professional wrestling franchise, who was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, had defended Trump's plans to abolish the agency, but promised that federal school funding appropriated by Congress to assist low-income school districts and students would continue.

"The Department of Education doesn't educate anyone. It doesn't hire teachers. It doesn't establish curriculum. It doesn't hire school boards or superintendents," she told SiriusXM's The David Webb Show on Tuesday.

The department oversees some 100,000 public and 34,000 private schools in the United States, although more than 85 per cent of public school funding comes from state and local governments. Colleges and universities are more reliant on money from Washington, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.

The Department of Education provides federal grants for underprivileged schools and programs, including money to pay teachers of children with special needs, fund arts programs and replace outdated infrastructure.

Advocates for public schools said eliminating the department would leave children behind and exacerbate disparities across the states within the American education system.

"This isn't fixing education. It's making sure millions of children never get a fair shot. And we're not about to let that happen without a fight," the National Parents Union said in a statement.

It also oversees the $1.6 trillion in student loans held by tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford to pay for university outright.

The planned job cuts would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January, and come on top of staff cuts through buyout offers and the firing of probationary employees carried out as part of Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, though some of those measures have also been challenged in the courts.

Prior to the department's creation, education was part of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which operated from 1953 to 1979.

In Trump's first term, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sought to dramatically reduce the agency's budget and asked Congress to bundle all K-12 funding into block grants that give states more flexibility in how they spend federal money. It was rejected, with pushback from even some Republicans.

Author: Thomson Reuters

Source: CBC News:

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