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The consequences of President-elect Donald Trump fulfilling his promise to abolish the Department of Education could be widespread, CNN reports.
“I say it all the time, I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education,” Trump said during a September rally in Wisconsin.
“We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” he added.
The establishment of the Department of Education as a Cabinent-level agency goes back to 1979 when former President Jimmy Carter signed it into legislation. Before Carter, federal education programs were housed in other agencies. It's unclear how Trump would handle shutting the department down, but the move would have reverberating effects on K-12 schools and higher education.
One of the Department of Education's biggest tasks is administering federal funding to K-12 and managing the federal student loan and financial aid programs. Funding programs under the federal agency for K-12 schools include the Title I program, an aid to low-income families, and the IDEA program, which helps provide money to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Programs like these could be in danger with the abolishment of the Department of Education.
The agency also doles out roughly $30 billion annually to low-income college students through the Pell grant program and manages about $1.6 trillion of student loans.
Along with funding, the Department of Education plays a key role in oversight and federal rulemaking. The DOE's Office of Civil Rights investigates alleged discrimination complaints at colleges and K-12 schools. It's unclear how such complaints would be handled if the agency were to shut down.
President Joe Biden also worked to strengthen protections for transgender students and crafted new student loan forgiveness regulations. Both of these issues are tied up in court and have a wary future if the DOE were to be abolished.
It is possible that some programs could be moved to different federal educations if the DOE weren't to exist. Shutting down a federal agency would also require an act of Congress.
With Repulicans taking control of the Senate and the balance of power remaining undecided in the House Representatives, the future of the Department of Education is still unclear.
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