Washington As speculation about President Donald Trump’s intentions to dissolve the government department that is only four and a half decades old continues to swirl, the primarily partisan debate over whether to abolish the U.S. Department of Education came to the fore during a hearing held by a U.S. House education panel on Wednesday.
Trump ran a campaign centered on his promise to abolish the department, which among other things manages federal student aid and funds important programs like special education and low-income school districts.
According to reports, Trump may sign an executive order that calls on Congress to eliminate the department and attempts to weaken it inside. Closing the department would require congressional approval, and he does not have the right to do so alone.
The condition of American education, namely school choice, parental rights in education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, sparked heated debates among lawmakers during a hearing held by the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Since taking office last month, the president’s comprehensive plan to save American education, which he laid out during his campaign, has already exploded.
Last week, he signed a series of executive orders pertaining to education that prioritized funding for school choice, ended what the administration considers radical indoctrination in K–12 education, and took further steps to combat anti-Semitism.
In January, Trump also issued executive orders to completely dismantle DEI initiatives and programs throughout the federal government.
The chair of the House education panel, Rep. Tim Walberg, expressed his satisfaction with the Trump administration’s outstanding efforts to reestablish family choice, personal accountability, and common sense in our educational system.
The Michigan Republican cited the most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to support his claim that there is still more work to be done in K–12 education.
According to the analysis, fourth- and eighth-grade students’ average reading and math scores in 2024 were lower than those in 2019, before to the coronavirus epidemic.
American education is in danger, according to Nicole Neily, president and founder of the parents’ rights organization Parents Defending Education.
According to last week’s NAEP results, American schools have been concentrating on anything but teaching for far too long, and our kids are suffering as a result of these poor choices, she said.
Democrats on the panel, meanwhile, cautioned about the consequences of dissolving the Education Department.
The ranking member of the panel, Rep. Bobby Scott, stated, “It is not lost on me that we are here to discuss the state of American education while the current administration is actively discussing how to dismantle the main federal agency responsible for ensuring safe, quality education for all students.”
The Virginia Democrat went on to say, “We don’t know what the plan will be, but you can count on our opposition to any plan that will abolish the Department of Education and the programs in it.” We will battle any attempt to demolish the agency.
Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat from Connecticut, stated that the Education Department has been dedicated to providing students nationwide with high-quality education since its founding in 1979.
About 1 million children participate in private school choice programs, as mentioned by Chairman Walberg. However, 49.6 million children attend public schools; what about them? Who’s standing up for them? “Hayes said.”
The very foundation of good citizenship will be destroyed by Trump’s executive orders that limit instruction in inclusive and supportive settings, his threats to dismantle the Department of Education, and his disruption of crucial enforcement of federal civil rights laws, according to Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
According to Nelson, we must reject these ideas from the Project 2025 playbook and approach public education with common sense and a shared goal rather than isolation and self-dealing.
The roughly 900-page Heritage Foundation policy proposal, Project 2025, lays out a comprehensive conservative agenda that includes the dismantling of the Education Department as one of its many education-related goals.
