After almost half of the staff, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to further break up the US Education Department.
Describing the “breathtaking failure” of the national education system, the president said on Thursday that his order would “eliminate” the Federal Department.
“We will go back to education back to the States where it belongs,” said Trump during a party in the White House, where students and several republican governors joined him, including Florida governor Ron Desantis, Governor Texas Greg Abbott and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.
Earlier on the same day, the press secretary of Trump, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters that the administration “significantly reduces the size and scale of the department.”
In fact, eliminating the department – which is responsible for administering billions of financing from schools – would require confirmation by the Congress, and experts claim that this is an unlikely scenario. Trump can also face legal challenges, and the American Federation of the Teachers’ Association promises a lawsuit.
In the case of local schools, “we really don’t know how it will be influential,” said Steven Ludwig, a lawyer from Fox Rothschild, who provides legal services for schools in the Philadelphia region. But, he said, it can be “extremely harsh”.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s order and what will happen next:
What does the order say?
The Order orders the secretary of education, “to the maximum relevant and allowed extent by law”, “taking all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department.” It also requires “ensuring effective and uninterrupted supply of services, programs and benefits that Americans rely.”
The order is also repeated by the concentration of Trump’s previous orders – calling for the secretary of education to ensure that financing of federal education is consistent with the law and “administrative policy, including the requirement that every program or activity receiving federal assistance ends illegal discrimination through” diversity, own capital “or similar conditions and programs that promote sex ideology.”
Can Trump actually close to Doe?
Trump said on Thursday that his administration would close the department: “We will close it and close it as soon as possible.”
Although conservatives have long been called to abolish the Education Department, which was created in 1979, this has not yet happened. Experts say that it is unlikely that Congress Republicans would succeed.
Trump would have to go through the Senate Filibuster and “he will not have democratic voices for it,” said Jon Valant, director of Brown Center on Education Policy at the Think Tank Institution.
By promising to close the department, Trump – who said that education secretary Linda McMahon “Let’s hope” that he would be the last in her role – he seemed to be considered a congress obstacle. “Democrats know that this is true and I hope that they will vote for it,” he said.
What happens to finance schools?
While most funds for K-12 schools come from local and state taxes, federal financing also plays a role. In Pennsylvania, federal money accounted for 6.5% of school districts in 2022–23; Participation varies depending on the district, with the poorer communities generally rely more on federal money.
A significant part of the funds managed by the Department of Education is dictated by law, including the two largest funding streams: Title I, which directs money to schools with high student concentrations in the field of poverty and the Act on the education of disabled people, which authorizes subsidies for special educational services.
Trump said on Thursday that the “useful functions” of the Department-made title I, resources for children with special needs and Pell grants issued by the Department of Low Income Students-“preserved” and “redistributed to various other agencies and faculties that take care of them.” He did not mention the Civil Rights Office, which his administration reduced, In this closing of your office in Philadelphia, while opening recent investigations on alleged anti -Semitism at university campus.
But “Most offices in the Education Department are listed in the permit Act” and cannot be destroyed by the executive order, said Michael Petrilli, president of Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Think Tank of Educational Policy promoting the choice of school. He said that Trump could not unilaterally transfer financing streams to other departments.
“Most of these changes will not be noticeable by most people at the local level,” said Petrilli, adding: “It assumes that the money is still flowing.”
How can you influence local schools?
But not everyone is convinced that federal funds will be preserved.
“You look at it through the prism of normality and compliance with the rule of law,” said Ludwig, noting that Trump’s actions suddenly finish the subsidy in other areas, and threats to limiting funds for schools on DEI initiatives.
In a letter last week corresponding to federal exemptions Doe, the activity of the Secretary for Education in Pennsylvania, Carrie Rowe advised school administrators that “your awareness of how federal funds are assigned and used in local schools will be of key importance in preparation and response to all interference.”
Superintendent Philadelphia Tony B. Watlington Sr. He said on Thursday that the last exemptions and the expected disassembly of the department “understandable are concerned about the impact on the educational landscape throughout the country, including the school district of Philadelphia.” He said that the district “actively monitors rapidly developing changes” and will provide periodic updates “in these uncertain times”.
Valant said that even if the current financing is preserved, federal changes can affect local schools. For example, in administering money to the idea, the education department is to ensure that districts employ them for special educational services.
“When you cut the department’s ability to run these programs … you open many skills of improper use and fraud,” said Valant.
It also provided for long -term effects, including from cuts to the department’s research arm, which collects data on the performance and practices of teaching students. “We will be in the dark in making decisions about what to teach and how to invest resources,” said Valant.
And although Trump officials cannot plan immediate cuts of the title and or idea, supporters of public education are worried that the programs are still exposed. Valant said that all cuts “will be felt very directly” by schools.
Petrilli said that he does not think that enormous streams of financing education are threatened.
He noticed that the federal supervision in education was already reduced by the act of each student, adopted in 2015 as part of President Barack Obama, who repealed President George W. Bush, which leaves the requirements and gave countries more flexibility of intervening in falling schools.
Petrilli said that, however, by looking for the staff of the education department, future administration could be more arduous to resume the federal leadership role in education.
How do politicians from Pennsylvania and New Jersey react?
The leader of the majority of the Senate in Pennsylvania Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), on Thursday, expressed support for Trump’s order and said that “elimination of bureaucracy is a good thing.”
“Allowing more dollars flows directly to local communities, with their ability to use them flexibly, it would be a general benefit of ensuring educational possibilities for all children,” added Pittman.
Democrats quickly condemned Trump order. New Jersey Phil Murphy’s governor called it “unrestricted and unconstitutional.” Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro did not immediately issue a statement on Thursday evening.
Senator of State Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia) said it was a “hit in the face” for students, teachers and parents.
Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Center for Educational Law, which represented school districts and parents in the lawsuit, which led to the recognition that the school financing system in Pennsylvania would be considered unconstitutional, said that the guttering of the Education Department would expose the most needy students at the risk of critical financing. She noticed that the federal government provides over $ 4.6 billion a year for public education in Pennsylvania.
“We call the Congress to stop the abuse of the executive body, ensure that federal financing our schools depend, that it is still flowing and restoring a federal commitment to equal access to education,” said Gordon Klehr.
