Donald Trump campaigned on doing away with the Department of Education, a promise that had to be softened since abolishment of a creation of Congress is beyond the authority of the president. But on Thursday, he moved to his next best option: weakening the Department and preparing for its possible closure.
It’s not a new idea among conservatives. Ronald Reagan and other Republicans have wanted to pull the plug on the DOE, which was signed into law by Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
“I've been a co-sponsor of bills for years to try to do away with the Department of Education,” Representative Greg Steube (R-Florida) said on Washington Watch Thursday.
But like so many of Trump’s "America First" agenda initiatives, Congress must be on board before it can be realized. The bottleneck will be the Senate, where Republicans have 53 seats – not the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster.
“We need to do the things that the President has done through executive order and back him up through the law so that once it gets through the process … the president can sign [it into law] and we no longer have to deal with this anymore,” Steube told show host Jody Hice.
Trump and Republicans contend that the DOE is bloated, and that education would be more efficient and productive if states had more control.
Federal money currently spent on education would be sent to states under the Trump order. Student loans and Pell grants, reaching tens of billions of dollars, would be operated elsewhere within the federal government, most likely the Treasury Department.
“I certainly think a majority of Republicans support dismantling the Department of Education. We absolutely have to do these types of things. The American people want them done,” Steube argued.
It’s unclear whether the Department could be abolished through the budget reconciliation, a process that allows legislation to bypass a Senate filibuster, requiring a simple majority of only 51 votes to pass a proposal.
But the budget reconciliation process is limited to changes in mandatory spending, revenues or the debt. In theory, the process is not available for changes to discretionary spending, such as funding for the DOE. Use of that mechanism in any way would require creativity from Republicans.
“Through this reconciliation package, we need to do away with the Department of Education,” Steube said.
This is a topic that puts the House under the microscope.
“If we don't do the things that President Trump campaigned on and we said that we were going to do, we're going to probably lose the House in the midterms,” Steube predicted.
Massive spending without the returns
The U.S. spends approximately $721 billion on education annually. The investment isn’t delivering the necessary return, critics say. Test scores remain low with proficiency levels in reading and math below 50% - in some cases well below – in many major cities.
DOE proponents point to pandemic education issues as part of the problem. The move to virtual learning during that time affected students’ academic performance as well as social interactions.
“When we reflect on what really has been the 'value add' of this Department and what is the state of American education right now, [we should ask] are students achieving? Do parents feel included in the process at their schools?” asked Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council.
Not really, she told Hice, answering her own questions.
“I think that we have to agree the answer, unfortunately, is that students are not being well educated right now and that the Department of Education isn't doing anything to correct that problem – and that it is actually making that problem worse,” Kilgannon continued.
Restructuring education in the U.S. without a dedicated federal department, she contends, would allow a fresh approach to determine where students most need help and how to provide it for them.
“Is the problem in your state? Is the problem in your school? I think that this is what we need to do to really figure out what's going on,” she said.
A world without the DOE would not only mean more say in education matters for states, it would mean more education money for states. Part of the federal money directed to states goes first to help fund the DOE.
“They take a slice right off the top. At least this way the states would get money directly. They would get more money,” Kilgannon said.
“Americans spend generously on education. We want teachers to be well paid. We want schools to be well funded. We want our children to be in good environments with happy teachers.”
The money is important, but the ability for parents and local school districts to make decisions about their students cannot be overstated.
Parents rights > DOE
Many parents are discovering this as they push back against gender ideology in their schools in California, Virginia, Illinois and elsewhere in the U.S.
Steube pointed out how the Department of Education, under Joe Biden, attempted to rewrite Title IX, the landmark women’s rights legislation of 1972, to include protections for gender ideology.
“Think about all of the executive orders and the things that the Department of Education did with trans sports and doing away with biological women only being allowed in women's sports. It’s a huge problem,” he said – adding that it's problem for the states to resolve.
“The states should be determining this. Your local school districts should be determining this, not the federal government," said the GOP lawmaker. "The federal government shouldn't do an edict from Washington, DC, on allowing biological men in women’s sports in your K through 12-type scenarios. This is absolutely a great thing the President has done.”
