What does Trump’s plan to cut the Department of Education mean for Winthrop students?
President-elect Donald Trump selected Linda McMahon for Education Secretary. A vocal supporter of Trump, McMahon served during his first term as the head of the Small Business Administration. As the Education Secretary, McMahon will oversee the destruction of her department should Trump follow through on his plans to abolish the Department of Education.
Attacks against the Department of Education are not new. Many Republican lawmakers attacked the department as unconstitutional and illegal in the 80s, when then-President Carter implemented it. In a statement made last year, Trump asserted that many people in the department “hate our children,” and said, “we want states to run the education of our children because they’ll do a much better job of it. You can’t do worse.”
In a September rally, the President-elect said, “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.” Agenda 47, the outline for Trump’s policies, promises to cut funding for schools that teach “transgender insanity” and critical race theory.
However, the importance of the Department of Education lies not in classroom curricula, which is generally left to the states, but in its nearly $200 billion budget. Dr. Costner, Dean of the College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences at Winthrop spoke about what could be lost if Trump and McMahon dismantle the department: “I think the areas that are most concerning if the current structure were to disappear are some of the grant programs. At Winthrop, we use those grant programs to attract teachers [and] retool teachers for new information.”
Two of Winthrop’s grants, TRIO and McNair, would be vulnerable to changes in federal policy. Both are federal grants provided by the Department of Education. Should the department be cut, those grants could be terminated. Although Costner expressed some doubt about the future of current grants, she was more concerned about future grants.
Certain programs like the PELL Grant, which predate the Department of Education, would be unaffected. “I think the PELL Grant will still exist,” Costner said. “Will it be funded as well as it is right now? I have great fears it won’t.”
On its website, the Department of Education states that it does not develop school curricula. However, the loss of federal funding could negatively affect certain programs related to diversity and inclusion. “Grants provide the mechanisms for those materials to be created,” Costner said. The department also regulates rules for special needs students and immigrant students. Without a governing body to maintain those regulations, those protections would be in doubt.
Whether Trump will be able to follow through on his promises to eliminate the Department of Education is uncertain. The Department of Education, which Congress created in 1979, would require congressional approval to eliminate. Republican majorities in both chambers may be too slim to cut the Department entirely, although Trump and McMahon will still be able to pursue certain policies. This includes the creation of a credentialing body to certify teachers “who embrace patriotic values and support the American way of life,” Trump said.
McMahon, the co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, briefly served on the Connecticut Board of Education before launching two failed Senate bids. A proponent for school choice, McMahon supported the expansion of charter schools and voucher programs. These controversial programs use public money to fund private schools that are often not subject to the same curricula and standards as public schools.
Voucher programs also affect school funding. Costner said, “Vouchers impact how much money goes into public schools. Even if a student leaves, those public schools still have expenses. The teacher is still there. There are still books that have to be bought, but all of a sudden, you’ve got to do that on a tighter budget.” Poorer communities would be especially vulnerable to expanded voucher programs.
McMahon’s nomination follows a string of controversial, pro-Trump firebrands that include the anti-vaxxer RFK Jr., and Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of sexual assault. Matt Gaetz, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a minor and was investigated by the House Ethics Committee, and was Trump’s choice for Attorney General, stepped away from his nomination after backlash from both sides of the political aisle.
Over Thanksgiving break, Trump selected Kashyap Patel to serve as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Patel, a hard-liner with little law enforcement experience, has aggressively attacked the “Deep State,” and called for a purge of civil servants who are not explicitly loyal to Trump.
During an interview with conservative host Steve Bannon, Patel said, “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
Patel said, “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’re going to figure that out — but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
Photo Credit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-to-pick-linda-mcmahon-head-department-of-education-sources/
