Trump does everything he can to shut down the Department of Education

• Trump signed an Executive Order declaring that the Department of Education would be closed. But unable to fully do that, because DOE was established by Congress, Trump is doing all else possible to fire DOE employees, halt important DOE functions and transfer a few essential functions to other agencies. Trump has fired or pushed out almost half (46%) of DOE employees. Civil rights and education groups are challenging his actions in court. 

• Trump shifted responsibilities for key education programs to other agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services is now responsible for administering the special education needs of 7.5 million students.  Trump transferred the federal student loan program – a portfolio of roughly $1.6 trillion owed by 43 million borrowers to the Small Business Administration. Trump claimed that these programs would be "preserved in full," but it is impossible to imagine how agencies with already limited funding and staffing can meet the demands of administering complex education programs with only a fraction of their previous workforce.

• Trump fired the D.O.E. employees responsible for administering tests and collecting the data for the annual NAEP report. Trump’s drastic cuts to the U.S. Department of Education have included firing employees responsible for administering the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests and collecting data. As the staff for the National Center for Education Statistics was reduced from nearly 100 employees to just three, it raises concerns about how progress will be measured if the very people who track this progress are gone. The NAEP, often referred to as the “nation’s report card,” provides essential insights into the state of U.S. education, especially in reading and math.

• Trump is promoting K-12 voucher programs which reroute public money to private schools and are already draining the budgets of seventeen states. These programs, as outlined in an earlier executive order, encourage states to use federal funds to support educational alternatives to public schools, including private and faith-based institutions. Critics argue that these vouchers, while touted as a way to "empower families," divert essential resources from public schools, where most students attend, and undermine federal protections for children with disabilities under laws like I.D.E.A.

Trump Demolishes Education

• Trump destroys accountability and transparency in education by proposing to demolish the Institute of Education Sciences and other key initiatives that track national educational progress, which could hinder efforts to improve student outcomes. Margaret Spellings, former Education Secretary under George W. Bush, warned that eliminating tools like the National Report Card and the What Works Clearinghouse would blind policymakers to what’s actually happening in classrooms. “We just had the National Education Report Card — we learned Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are killing it in reading. What can we learn from that?” she asked. “The federal government is the one that is best positioned to take that broad view of the data.”

• Trump's dismantling of the Department of Education distracts from critical issues like declining student performance in reading and math, worsened by the pandemic. Spellings, now president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, pointed to plummeting academic achievement, especially in the wake of Covid, as the real crisis. “We ought to just be on fire about it,” she said, frustration clear in her voice. “But instead we’re going to see: Does the SBA know how to run a student loan portfolio?” She emphasized that while bureaucratic restructuring grabs headlines, the real focus should be on helping students recover from historic learning losses.

Trump's Gutting of K-12 Education

• Trump threatened to withhold Title I funding from schools with high percentages of low-income students unless they eliminated certain diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, targeting schools that serve predominantly students of color. This echoed past eras when educational access was a privilege for the few. Acting Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor's statement that "federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right" recalled the pre–Civil Rights era mentality, signaling a return to policies that disproportionately affect schools filled with students of color. New York officials pushed back, refusing to comply with demands that would reverse protections hard-won since Brown v. Board.

• Trump intentionally is ending  the legacy of President Jimmy Carter, who established the Department of Education after firsthand experience on a Georgia school board, where he championed early childhood education and racial integration. The department he built as a safeguard for equity — ensuring Black, disabled, rural, and low-income students weren’t left behind — is now being gutted by an administration more interested in dismantling oversight than ensuring opportunity.

• Trump’s push to rewrite American history through the 1776 Commission and the rollback of civil rights protections in education has sought to erase progress made since the Civil Rights Act. The 1776 Commission’s report claimed that the civil rights movement quickly “ran counter to the lofty ideals of the founders,” a claim that ignored the fact that many founders excluded women, Black Americans, and the poor from citizenship altogether. Trump’s education agenda mirrors this revisionism, targeting lessons about race and inequality and silencing programs designed to correct centuries of educational exclusion. As author Adam Harris notes, the administration isn’t just rewriting history — it's reversing it.

Massachusetts cut are an example of how Trump is devastating state education projects 

• Trump terminated $106 million in K-12 education grant funding, undermining critical resources for Massachusetts' students and schools, particularly those serving low-income and minority students. Governor Maura Healey expressed deep concern, stating, "At a time when students are still struggling to recover from the pandemic, we need to be doing everything we can to address learning loss and the youth mental health crisis." The abrupt termination of funding puts vulnerable students at greater risk and undermines efforts to support them.

• Trump jeopardized ongoing efforts to address pandemic-related learning loss, mental health services, and school infrastructure improvements across Massachusetts. Secretary of Education Dr. Patrick Tutwiler highlighted how Massachusetts had been making important progress, but now these critical initiatives face setbacks. "We know that many students in Massachusetts and across the country are still experiencing pandemic-related learning loss and mental health challenges," Dr. Tutwiler said, expressing frustration over the arbitrary deadline imposed by the Trump administration.

• In an example of Trump education disaster in another state, Trump canceled $17 million in federal COVID relief funds earmarked for North Carolina schools. “This unprecedented action undermines the careful financial planning of school districts across North Carolina and threatens critical programs supporting students,” the State Education Department told North Carolina’s state school board.

Trump harms students, educators, and vulnerable communities

• Trump terminated $1.5 billion in contracts and grants that Congress had authorized for the Department of Education, undermining critical resources that support students and educators. As AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran noted, these cuts would harm essential school workers, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and custodians, directly impacting vulnerable students, such as those from low-income families or those with disabilities.

• Trump's shutdown of the Department of Education is being challenged in court as a violation of constitutional authority and the federal Administrative Procedure Act. Mara Greengrass, a Maryland mother and plaintiff, expressed deep concern about how these actions endanger the quality of education for her son, who has a disability and relies on special education services that are directly supported by the Department's funding. This move is feared to cause widespread harm, especially to students with disabilities, and disrupt services essential to the education and well-being of millions of children across the country.

Trump orders halt to all federal funding of education in Maine after he ordered Maine’s governor to comply with a ban on transgender women in women’s sports

• Trump ordered a halt to all federal funding for education programs in Maine after concluding the state violated federal law by allowing transgender athletes to compete on girls’ or women’s teams. The halt came after an initial freeze after Maine Governor Janet Mills, stood up to Trump at a White House meeting with governors Trump warned Mills she had “better comply” with his executive order—words that now echo as multiple federal investigations target Maine’s public education system and Trump has pulled all federal funding for Maine schools.

Trump Targets International Students and Native American and Tribal Colleges and Universities

• Trump eliminated the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities, a key Biden-era policy aimed at supporting Tribal Colleges. 

• Trump rescinded several critical immigration policies, including stricter visa vetting and increased scrutiny of F-1 and J-1 students. These changes could affect international students, particularly those involved in campus protests, as the administration now mandates that visa applicants must not advocate for or support threats to national security. Additionally, Trump ended the "sensitive locations" policy, which had previously protected schools, hospitals, and churches from immigration enforcement actions.