The Daily Populous Thursday March 20th, 2025 day edition
Authored by nbclosangeles.com and submitted by coasterghost

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Education Department, according to a White House official, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that's been a longtime target of conservatives.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity before an announcement.

Trump has derided the Department of Education as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, finalizing its dismantling is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.

A White House fact sheet said the order would direct 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.”

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Here are five things to know about former wrestling executive Linda McMahon.

The Trump administration has already been gutting the agency. Its workforce is being slashed in half and there have been deep cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.

Advocates for public schools said eliminating the department would leave children behind in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal.

“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.

The White House has not spelled out formally which department functions could be handed off to other departments, or eliminated altogether. At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she would preserve core initiatives, including Title I money for low-income schools and Pell grants for low-income college students. The goal of the administration, she said, would be "a better functioning Department of Education.”

The department sends billions of dollars a year to schools and oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.

Currently, much of the agency’s work revolves around managing money — both its extensive student loan portfolio and a range of aid programs for colleges and school districts, from school meals to support for homeless students. The agency also plays a significant role in overseeing civil rights enforcement.

Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%. The money often supports supplemental programs for vulnerable students, such as the McKinney-Vento program for homeless students or Title I for low-income schools.

Colleges and universities are more reliant on money from Washington, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.

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.

In his platform, Trump promised to close the department “and send it back to the states, where it belongs.” Trump has cast the department as a hotbed of “radicals, zealots and Marxists” who overextend their reach through guidance and regulation.

At the same time, Trump has leaned on the Education Department to promote elements of his agenda. He has used investigative powers of the Office for Civil Rights and the threat of withdrawing federal education funding to target schools and colleges that run afoul of his orders on transgender athletes participating in women's sports, pro-Palestinian activism and diversity programs.

Even some of Trump’s allies have questioned his power to close the agency without action from Congress, and there are doubts about its political popularity. The House considered an amendment to close the agency in 2023, but 60 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it.

During 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 some Republicans.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration Thursday over its mass firings at the Department of Education.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

ChampionEither5412 on March 20th, 2025 at 02:36 UTC »

Yes, education has a liberal bent, bc people get more liberal when they meet new people, develop better critical thinking skills, and learn things. That's not a flaw with education, that's an indictment of how stupid conservatives are.

cddelgado on March 20th, 2025 at 01:58 UTC »

People DO NOT RECOGNIZE what the Department of Education does for America.

Federal student aid including grants, loans and work study programs -- without this, millions would never be able to get a degree which the majority of the highest paying jobs are still necessary to obtain. Tracking student education progress, assessing community needs, and conducting research on how to improve education so we do better as a nation to teach. Enforcement of Section 504 (equality in access), Section 508 (physical and digital access) of the Rehabilitation act in schools, universities, and other centers of learning; and also carries out audits and enforcement on behalf of the Department of Justice. Enforces sexual harassment, gender equality, and race/ethnicity equality policies in centers of education. Oversees vocational and technical rehabilitation, continuing education, and community training opportunities. (Got a veteran who needs job training? Have an adult who needs to change careers? Have someone who needs their GED? Wanna learn how to read good and do other stuff too? The DoE funds and coordinates all that.) Help people from other countries learn English. Offers grants for low-income schools Everything around accessibility and education, from funding jobs, to buying equipment, to guaranteeing access at a policy level, to providing opportunities to help people who are disadvantaged educationally from their disability catch-up.

This is just the big stuff. This covers none of the nuance. And I know the article says disability services won't be impacted but if you pull any of the pieces apart and remove any of the staff, the effectiveness of programs diminishes and things are already tough.

akd432 on March 19th, 2025 at 23:45 UTC »

Trump will lay off millions of public sectors workers. He will gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He will drive up the costs of all items by at least 25% (due to his tariffs). Millions of private sector jobs will be lost due to his policies.

By 2028, America will be unrecognizable.