department Ed Assign

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The Role of the Department of Education and What Will Happen if Trump Allows the Program to Go

Cedric Harris

Psychology 350

Dr. Anthony Hubert

March 2, 2025

The Role of the Department of Education and What Will Happen if Trump Allows the Program to Go

Faguy, A. (2025). What does the Department of Education do - and can Trump dismantle it? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zxzj90nno

Faguy's article presents a summary of the U.S. Department of Education's role, focusing on its functions, budget, and mandates. The article points to the persistent Republican attempts, among them Trump's current campaign, to abolish the department. The article clarifies that although Trump can try to reduce the agency through executive fiat, abolishing it would involve an act by Congress, something that is impossible due to the Senate's partisan balance. The article also outlines the department's main responsibilities, such as managing student loans, support to poor students, and enforcing education civil rights law. This is a good source for my literature review as it is a fact-based, objective explanation of what the Department of Education does and the legal challenge Trump has to attempt to shut it down. I will base my initial understanding of the role of the department on this article before examining the possible ramifications of its removal.

Brasch, B., Meckler, L., & Timsit, A. (2025). Key functions of the Education Department, which Trump is moving to dismantle. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/02/04/department-of-education-explained-trump/

This article examines attempts by the Trump administration to roll back the role of the Education Department, such as an executive order that tried to divert its responsibilities to other federal agencies. The authors describe the key functions of the department, such as managing student loans, implementing civil rights protections, and awarding money to disabled and needy students. The article also mentions the political feasibility of eliminating the department, pointing out that it would require an act of Congress, and this is still not quite likely. I will use this source to mention the practical challenges in dismantling the Department of Education, like how its functions could be transferred to other agencies. Discussion of management of student loans and upholding of civil rights in the article will be particularly pertinent in reaching a conclusion regarding the likely impact of Trump's proposal on disadvantaged student cohorts.

Burga, S. (2025). Can Trump Dismantle the Department of Education? Here’s What to Know. Time Magazine. https://time.com/7213488/trump-dismantle-department-of-education/

Burga's article critiques Trump's intended executive order that would deprive the Education Department of its authority by limiting its activities and reassigning its duties elsewhere. The article characterizes the department's biggest programs, such as Pell Grants and Title I subsidies for impoverished schools, and notes the bipartisan support of many such programs. It also cites the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which calls for redistributing educational functions to the Department of Health and Human Services and establishing a new federal student aid corporation. This source will assist me in situating Trump's proposal in the context of more general conservative policy objectives, including shrinking federal control of education and expanding school choice. I will use it to examine the likely federal education function reallocation and opportunities for congressional resistance to such an effort.

Habash, T. (2025). Donald Trump Can’t Actually Dismantle the Department of Education, but His Policies Still Threaten Us All. Action Report #3. Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom. https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/ActionReport3_%20Will_Trump_Dismantle_Dept_of_ED.docx.pdf

This report argues that even though Trump lacks the constitutional authority to abrogate the Department of Education single-handedly, his policy ideas might still cause destructive consequences to students, schools, and federal finances. The author outlines five far-reaching implications of eliminating the department, namely, economic ramifications, loss of civil rights enforcement, dangers to education equity, lowered accountability, and reduced expenditure in education research. The report is extremely critical of the Trump administration's reaction, framing it as an ideologically driven assault on public schools as opposed to an effort to empower local control.

I will use this source to illustrate the broader social and economic context of the elimination of the Education Department. The emphasis of the report on educational equity and civil rights will be useful to me in assessing the implication for historically marginalized groups, namely low-income students and students with disabilities. Its argument that there should be federal control to maintain school accountability will also be useful in assessing the dangers of Trump's plan.

Inskeep, S., & Haney, T. (2024). What Trump's pledge to close Dept. of Education means for students, GOP-led states. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5181966/a-look-at-the-potential-impact-of-shutting-down-the-department-of-education

This piece takes into account the effect of Trump's promise to shut down the Department of Education, since it deals with the limits of the power of the president and the possible effects on students, particularly those from states with Republican administrations. The professionals interviewed in this piece make clear that the U.S. Constitution assigns states educational responsibilities but recognizes the authority of the federal government in funding education programs, enforcing civil rights laws, and making student loans available. The article highlights that disbanding the department would take an act of Congress, one that is opposed forcefully on a bipartisan basis because so many low-income and rural states depend on federal school funding. It also goes ahead to dissect how the Trump administration would make use of the agency's current activities, such as enforcement of civil rights, for its priorities.

This is a good source for my literature review as it provides specialist opinion on whether dismantling the Department of Education is viable and whether there would be financial and legal challenges in doing so. It also provides an example of how the policy proposals put forward by Trump will disproportionately impact high-risk student groups and state education systems.

1

The Role of the Department of Education and What Will Happen if Trump Allows the Program to Go

Cedric Harris

Psychology 350

Dr. Anthony Hubert

March 2, 2025

The Role of the Department of Education and What Will Happen if Trump Allows the Program to Go

Faguy, A. (2025). What does the Department of Education do - and can Trump dismantle it? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zxzj90nno

Faguy's article presents a summary of the U.S. Department of Education's role, focusing on its functions, budget, and mandates. The article points to the persistent Republican attempts, among them Trump's current campaign, to abolish the department. The article clarifies that although Trump can try to reduce the agency through executive fiat, abolishing it would involve an act by Congress, something that is impossible due to the Senate's partisan balance. The article also outlines the department's main responsibilities, such as managing student loans, support to poor students, and enforcing education civil rights law. This is a good source for my literature review as it is a fact-based, objective explanation of what the Department of Education does and the legal challenge Trump has to attempt to shut it down. I will base my initial understanding of the role of the department on this article before examining the possible ramifications of its removal.

Brasch, B., Meckler, L., & Timsit, A. (2025). Key functions of the Education Department, which Trump is moving to dismantle. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/02/04/department-of-education-explained-trump/

This article examines attempts by the Trump administration to roll back the role of the Education Department, such as an executive order that tried to divert its responsibilities to other federal agencies. The authors describe the key functions of the department, such as managing student loans, implementing civil rights protections, and awarding money to disabled and needy students. The article also mentions the political feasibility of eliminating the department, pointing out that it would require an act of Congress, and this is still not quite likely. I will use this source to mention the practical challenges in dismantling the Department of Education, like how its functions could be transferred to other agencies. Discussion of management of student loans and upholding of civil rights in the article will be particularly pertinent in reaching a conclusion regarding the likely impact of Trump's proposal on disadvantaged student cohorts.

Burga, S. (2025). Can Trump Dismantle the Department of Education? Here’s What to Know. Time Magazine. https://time.com/7213488/trump-dismantle-department-of-education/

Burga's article critiques Trump's intended executive order that would deprive the Education Department of its authority by limiting its activities and reassigning its duties elsewhere. The article characterizes the department's biggest programs, such as Pell Grants and Title I subsidies for impoverished schools, and notes the bipartisan support of many such programs. It also cites the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which calls for redistributing educational functions to the Department of Health and Human Services and establishing a new federal student aid corporation. This source will assist me in situating Trump's proposal in the context of more general conservative policy objectives, including shrinking federal control of education and expanding school choice. I will use it to examine the likely federal education function reallocation and opportunities for congressional resistance to such an effort.

Habash, T. (2025). Donald Trump Can’t Actually Dismantle the Department of Education, but His Policies Still Threaten Us All. Action Report #3. Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom. https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/ActionReport3_%20Will_Trump_Dismantle_Dept_of_ED.docx.pdf

This report argues that even though Trump lacks the constitutional authority to abrogate the Department of Education single-handedly, his policy ideas might still cause destructive consequences to students, schools, and federal finances. The author outlines five far-reaching implications of eliminating the department, namely, economic ramifications, loss of civil rights enforcement, dangers to education equity, lowered accountability, and reduced expenditure in education research. The report is extremely critical of the Trump administration's reaction, framing it as an ideologically driven assault on public schools as opposed to an effort to empower local control.

I will use this source to illustrate the broader social and economic context of the elimination of the Education Department. The emphasis of the report on educational equity and civil rights will be useful to me in assessing the implication for historically marginalized groups, namely low-income students and students with disabilities. Its argument that there should be federal control to maintain school accountability will also be useful in assessing the dangers of Trump's plan.

Inskeep, S., & Haney, T. (2024). What Trump's pledge to close Dept. of Education means for students, GOP-led states. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5181966/a-look-at-the-potential-impact-of-shutting-down-the-department-of-education

This piece takes into account the effect of Trump's promise to shut down the Department of Education, since it deals with the limits of the power of the president and the possible effects on students, particularly those from states with Republican administrations. The professionals interviewed in this piece make clear that the U.S. Constitution assigns states educational responsibilities but recognizes the authority of the federal government in funding education programs, enforcing civil rights laws, and making student loans available. The article highlights that disbanding the department would take an act of Congress, one that is opposed forcefully on a bipartisan basis because so many low-income and rural states depend on federal school funding. It also goes ahead to dissect how the Trump administration would make use of the agency's current activities, such as enforcement of civil rights, for its priorities.

This is a good source for my literature review as it provides specialist opinion on whether dismantling the Department of Education is viable and whether there would be financial and legal challenges in doing so. It also provides an example of how the policy proposals put forward by Trump will disproportionately impact high-risk student groups and state education systems.