No, Donald Trump did not "close" the U.S. Department of Education
Only Congress has that power
I would rather be focused on other things, but Donald Trump and his Secretary of Education Linda McMahon are out here trying to create as much chaos as possible. They say they would like to close and “dismantle” the U.S. Department of Education.
But that’s Congress’ job, and they don’t have the votes. They need to convince more folks.
Instead, they’re pretending as if they’re closing it by sending a lot of its functions out to other federal agencies. Through a series of “interagency agreements” announced today, they’re subcontracting much of the work in K-12 and higher education out to the Department of Labor. McMahon says she’s doing it to, “return education to the states.”
That’s… not what her plan does. It doesn’t cut any federal spending. It doesn’t reduce any federal oversight responsibilities. I’d love for a lawyer to weigh in on whether I’m wrong, but I also don’t think it will eliminate any regulatory requirements. Here’s their fact sheet on what this plan will actually do:
Will this agreement change program eligibility for agencies, entities, and institutions? There is no anticipated adverse impact on eligible agencies, entities, and institutions, as ED is enabling DOL to implement and execute the grant programs. All programs will continue to be administered in accordance with the applicable statutory requirements.
The main thing it does is to move some functions from one federal building to another one less than a mile away.
That’s not nothing. The Department of Education employs people whose job is to oversee these programs—making sure the money gets where it’s supposed to go and that states and districts follow the rules. Those jobs could vanish. But, presumably, the Department of Labor would still need to hire people to do that work, or the same staff could get reassigned. The point is, the actual tasks aren’t going anywhere.
It’s all just chaos, and it may well be illegal.
Moreover, this is all temporary! The next Democratic Administration could come in and immediately end these interagency agreements.
So it’s stupid, and it will definitely harm some people’s lives. It will also make things considerably more inconvenient for states and districts. Will it lead to demonstrably better or worse service? No one knows that for sure, but somehow I doubt it.
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