Disheartened by President Donald J. Trump’s proposal to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) and slash educational funding, senior Keira Van Der Molen laments for her teachers.
“I think it’s a real insult to teachers who work every day to provide a good experience for students,” Van Der Molen said. “They’re the ones teaching the students and working hard and some of them are even using their own money to buy materials that students can’t afford. It’s basically saying that they’re not important, which is an insult and, of course, not true.”
On March 20, Trump signed an executive order to begin downsizing and dismantling the DOE in a bid to “return education authority to the states.” The DOE is responsible for the oversight of many programs such as student loans and grants, funding for public schools and ensuring equal access to education while preventing discrimination. The executive order seeks to “greatly minimize the agency” with plans to terminate over half of its employees.
As a result of this executive order and the downsizing that has already begun, many students are left unsure about their financial aid and their ability to access higher education due to the relinquishing of many grants and scholarships. For example, Harvard University faced over $2 billion of federal funding being frozen with another $450 million being cut, most of which was allocated for students.
In addition to private institutions, state universities are also being affected by these cuts, causing students such as senior Jesse Medrano, who will attend California State University Northridge, to worry.
“(Trump) got rid of a good amount of scholarships that I would have applied for and that really hurt my chances,” Medrano said. “It’s really made it more difficult for me to be able to get financial aid. Not only that, but tuition will always get higher and higher every year with less options to circumvent it.”
A key aspect of the DOE is the handling of federal student aid and loans through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program. Although FAFSA funds are reimbursed and given through the DOE, it will not be eliminated. Instead, it will be transferred to the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA is designated to assist current and prospective small business owners. However, many questions arise such as privacy concerns and errors occurring due to the small size of the SBA. As a result, critics say this process could be cumbersome and may negatively affect many applicants.
“As long as this doesn’t affect students getting grants and scholarships, I don’t think I have any problem with it,” senior Saman Sepehr said. “It’s gonna make a problem for students though because they’re used to this kind of system, but it has to be managed good.”
The consequences of the executive order to dismantle the DOE not only put individual students at risk but entire schools and districts as well. Daniel Pearl Magnet High School is a Title I school. This means that extra funding is allocated to these schools due to a high amount of low-income students. Though Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has stated Title I funding will be “preserved,” many experts believe that, due to large job reallocations and position removals, the future of Title I remains undetermined. The National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) is one aspect of the DOE that helps to assist Title I schools and almost all of its staff has been laid off or placed on leave. However, it remains unclear how this will affect Daniel Pearl Magnet High School due to the school’s Title I status and small size. Local district superintendent Dr. David Baca did not respond when reached out for comment.
“The key issue is that—as things stand now—the data needed to drive the next round of Title I, and grants to schools and grants to other programs isn’t going to happen as a result of the cuts to NCES staff and contracts,” said a former NCES employee who asked to remain anonymous in an interview with NPR.
As a result of the executive order, the DOE’s Bureau for Civil Rights is also slated to be gutted. The bureau is meant to prevent discrimination on the basis of disabilities, race and gender. In addition, 90% of U.S. students and 95% of students with disabilities learn in public schools that benefit from the DOE. With these possible eliminations, many are now worried about the broader consequences toward equitable schools.
“It scares me that we attack or that we threaten systems in place to help our students,” math teacher Gonçalo Sousa said. “Public education needs to function as a social elevator. If we are cutting or gutting funding and resources, we are only hurting the most vulnerable. We are hurting first and foremost, the most vulnerable.”
However, a Boston federal judge ruled on May 22 that dismantling the DOE in its entirety can be blocked. This order has temporarily paused the downsizing and elimination of the DOE. As a result, mass layoffs have been tentatively stopped, although the Trump administration will be attempting to challenge the decision.
“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” English teacher Valerie Quiroga said. “I don’t think that a president or anyone in power, especially in a democratic country, should be making choices like this without getting the proper votes. I think oftentimes people don’t realize how much we need these kinds of programs until they are taken from us and their own children.”
