The Trump administration is exploring dramatic cuts to programs and staff at the U. Department of Education, including executive action shuttering department programs that are not protected by law and calling on Congress to close the department entirely.
The executive action could come as early as this week, according to multiple government sources who were not cleared to discuss the administration's plans publicly. This potential executive action comes after the Trump administration, in recent days, placed dozens of Education Department staff on paid administrative leave with little explanation, saying only that the moves were the result of President Trump's executive action targeting federal diversity programs.
Taken together, the news has unsettled department staff and is sure to come up in the Senate confirmation hearing for Trump's nominee to be education secretary, Linda McMahon. That hearing has not yet been scheduled. While the executive action is expected to outline significant cuts to the Education Department and even call for its closure, the department cannot be closed through executive action alone.
The department was created by an act of Congress in and, as such, can only be closed by an act of Congress. Whether there are enough votes in Congress to close the Education Department is another question entirely. House Republicans have tried before and failed, and Republicans enjoy only narrow majorities in the House and Senate. What's more, public surveys show a majority of Republicans believe the U. This is a little murkier, but yes, it seems within the discretion of the President and his education secretary to make some cuts to the department — specifically focusing on programs that were not created by Congress — and therefore are not protected by statute.
But much of what the Education Department does — certainly its signature programs — are protected by statute, including the most important federal funding streams to public schools:. Both of these funding streams were, like the department itself, created by separate acts of Congress: Title I in and IDEA in And, as such, cannot be unwound except by Congress. Large changes to either are unlikely, as the programs enjoy broad bipartisan support.
