President Donald Trump’s White House has promised sweeping changes to multiple agencies and departments, ranging from the National Park Service, USAID and the Department of Transportation. One of President Trump’s largest proposed changes, however, is to the Department of Education (DOE), appointing Linda McMahon to head the department. President Trump has promised to shut down the Department of Education. President Trump said the DOE has been mismanaged and says its responsible for student’s low test scores and has indoctrinated students with “woke ideology” and anti-American teachings.
The DOE plays a large role in higher education, it helps students via Federal Student Aid, deals with discrimination complaints and helps sponsor research for students and facilities, any changes to the DOE will ripple across higher education.
“One of the responsibilities of Doane’s Division of Community and Government Relations (CGR), in collaboration with university partners, including legal counsel, is to represent our university and students’ interests with elected officials and government agency leaders,” Vice President for Community & Government Relations Luis Sotelo said. “We also monitor government laws, regulations, and guidance to ensure we are in legal compliance. As a result, any change at the DOE that concerns higher education policy and funding is likely to impact our division’s work and Doane at varying levels.”
Sotelo mentioned how important the DOE is for implementing and enforcing federal civil rights laws at educational institutions receiving federal funds. The department helps account for shortcomings in other sectors to help disadvantaged students. Furthermore, it also helps award upwards of $120 billion in scholarships and grants, which are critical for any university and its student bodies.
Sotelo also emphasized that the DOE is unlikely to be fully dissolved as it is not only illegal for President Trump to dissolve the department it also get pushback from the public.
“I want to be clear that a sitting U.S. President cannot eliminate the U.S. Department of Education because it was established by an act of Congress. Eliminating it, therefore, would require authorizing language from Congress. In February, I attended a town hall in Washington, D.C. with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and he recognized that it would be very unlikely that Congress, under its current composition and rules, would be able to pass a law eliminating the Department of Education,” Sotelo said. “It’s also largely an unpopular idea among American voters–regardless of political party affiliation–nationwide, based on current polling. While the U.S. presidential administration can and is downsizing the federal agency, making it harder to conduct the work authorized by Congress, it still has a statutory duty to administer and enforce laws, including civil rights laws.”
Currently, the DOE is still operational; however, thousands of its workers have been cut, effectively crippling the agency. The current administration is expected to make more moves, cuts and consolidations to the DOE that Sotelo and the rest of Doane’s leadership are expected to follow any changes to the department.
