DEPT OF EDUCATION SHUT DOWN
By Michael Haran
2/13/2025
The reasoning behind Donald Trump’s obsession with shutting down the Department of Education (DOE) are two fold – and maybe three. First, like the rest of his attack on the Federal bureaucracy, is to cut federal spending so his next round of tax cuts for the wealthy won’t have as big an impact on the Federal deficit. The second, which is political, is that most of Trump’s supporters are the MAGA uneducated so it’s in Trump’s best interest to keep them uneducated.
One of his mantras from the November election was “Never underestimate the stupidity of the American public.” They voted for him because they enjoyed the entertainment aspects of Trump’s campaign and were too uneducated to see what Trump’s election would mean to their own self interests. How’s his promise to cut grocery prices on day one working out? 
And, number three, since Trump has stated his second administration will be one of revenge, maybe since he was such a terrible student, he’s taking revenge on the DOE because he can’t read. Pure speculation.
Now, like a lot of other Trump’s hatchet jobs, unlike the states which have to keep a tighter watch on their fiscal policies, there is a lot of waste in the Federal bureaucracy because all Federal agencies know that if need be, the Feds can just print more money. Over the years there has developed a Federal bureaucracy welfare system including the DOE. Many federal employees get paid exorbitant salaries for doing repetitive work or no work at all. This also happens at the state level where some school administrators are getting paid $150k a year to administer a middle school. Those overpayments should go to teachers.
Because the DOE oversees the country’s school system, facilitates the federal grant and student-loan system, collects student data, enforces civil rights and manages the federal student aid system, it should not be shut down. I’m sure it needs a fiscal makeover but the services it provides to the state school systems, students and parents in keeping America educated are invaluable.
These are some of the DOE’s key responsibilities that would be impacted if the agency shuts down.
Manages grants and student loans
One of the DOE’s primary tasks is facilitating the $1.7 trillion student-loan portfolio. Over 40 million student-loan borrowers hold federal loans, and the department’s Federal Student Aid office works with student-loan servicers to manage borrowers’ loan repayment.
FSA is also responsible for managing a range of student-loan repayment and relief programs, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. It develops the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA form, for students each year and provides Pell Grants for low-income and middle-income college students.
Additionally, the department manages grants for US public schools. Those include Title I funding, which gives funds to school districts in lower-income communities, along with funding for districts that teach students with disabilities.
Collects data on student outcomes
The DOE’s research arm collects data to monitor key student outcomes, including math and reading literacy scores. The most recent scores, collected through the National Assessment of Education Progress, found that kids are continuing to decline in reading literacy.
Nat Malkus, a senior fellow and deputy director of education policy at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, previously told BI that “if it weren’t for the Department of Education,” we wouldn’t even know where kids’ proficiency levels stand.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a nonpartisan research arm within the department, funds research on education issues nationwide, including teacher quality, educational interventions, and classroom reform at all levels. State education agencies collect data under federal reporting requirements; the DOE primarily keeps track of overall national trends at US schools and provides funding for data collection.
The Push Back
Eliminating any federal agency requires approval from the U.S. Congress, and while some Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to get rid of the Department of Education, there has not yet been enough support to make that happen. Many of the DOEs funding of lower-income communities are in the GOP’s red states which would not go over well with their constituents.
Still, Trump has been working to reduce many federal agency functions over the past weeks by laying off staff and canceling the programs they oversee, as he recently did with the US Agency for International Development. Trump and some GOP lawmakers have said that education can be managed at the local level, and a federal agency isn’t needed, so we will see if any bureaucratic waste can be eliminated without doing away with the department’s vital services.
Some Republicans have previously suggested that the Treasury Department could facilitate these programs without the DOE; shifting those responsibilities would be a significant undertaking, education policy experts have said.
To give you some idea how lame Trump is on the subject of eliminating the DOE he said one of his goals is to send education back to the states, who control classroom curriculum, and then signs an executive order directing the states to “promote patriotic education” in public schools and eliminate ideologies that do not align with his politics. He wants the Feds out of the school business and dictates to them. Such an idiot.
And to sum up, Trump reiterated to reporters on February 12 that he wants the Department of Education to be closed “immediately,” adding that the department “is a big con job.” Now if the DOE is nothing but a big “con job” Trump should know since he is one of the biggest con artists of all time. And finally, there is not a state or Federal school program that can equal good parenting.
The source data for this article came from an article written by Ayelet Sheffey for the Business Insider. Trump wants the Department of Education to be closed ‘immediately.’ Here’s what shutting it down would mean.