Why Trump’s plan to kill the education department may fail

Department of Education Secretary Nominated Linda McMahon from Raslin ‘fame.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

It is easy to look at the Trump Administration’s early fierce through the federal bureaucracy and see an unstoppable stampler. The Office of Management and Budget, called Often Nerve center for the federal governmenthas been fully Maga-Idd to the extent that its temporary director felt empowered to place a freezing on a large cut of federal expenses, even without consulting the White House. Then there is the powerful if unclear Office for Personnel Administration and General Services Administration, which together monitors federal employees and federally owned buildings. They’ve both been invaded and occupied By Elon Musk’s Geek Kiddie Corps of Doge operatives, who appear to be responsible for a wide range of sensitive data and get rid of career employees who get in their way. And most spectacularly, the administration has moved on several fronts to gone the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as a symbol of the foreign aid that America has first hates as a sin itself.

But one of the next cookies on the record, the American education department that Trump has promised to eliminate altogethercan be harder to chew. Yes, Musk has sent some of his nerds into the agency to look around and also Fire staff alleged to have run by Trump’s ban on DEI activities. Trump has even issued yet another early presidential order instructing the Department of Education to Pass War before it dies on alleged “indoctrination” of children Around the country of anti-American “radicals.” And the word is the administration prepares one Really big executive order To kill any functions from the institute that is not an authorized congress and ask Congress to kill or assign the rest of them in the legislation.

This half-loaf approach to the abolition of an agency that many conservatives have hated since its establishment in 1979 reflects two realities that even Trump and Musk have to recognize to some extent. First, many Department of Education Programs perform mandates explicitly created by Congress, which just cannot be abolished by Executive Fiat. And secondly, some of these features – and for that matter the existence of a federal department that focuses on education – are very popular, even among Republicans. A further complication is that Trump’s nominees to run the Zombie Agency, Linda McMahon, a scandal-plagued professional-wrestling director, has not even received a confirmation that hears her end of required background search information. It is useful to have a business on site when you try to bury a cabinet-level department.

Presumably when Congress Republicans finally find out their strategy for implementing Trump legislative agenda via one or two budgetary regulations, they will try to determine if there is consensus support for a provision that kills the Department of Education. There will certainly be enthusiasm for doing so among Christian-nationalist types who are largely against “government schools” completely and simply prefer to direct public subsidies to private and religious schools (and to home schools) under the doctrine of “parents’ elections.” Another Trump -Order has Priority school choice As a political case, whether there is a federal agency that encourages it.

One of the biggest political problems for these schemes can come from the powerful grassroots network of parents, teachers and citizen groups supporting the federal guarantee of Special education offer Around the country, an important mission for the current department. This is one of many areas where GOP plans to massively reduce domestic spending outside social security and Medicare could make suggestions to eliminate the education department, especially full, then Educational week Explained:

If Republican Legislators in Congress perform Trump’s promises to cut the federal budget and cut expenses for education, states and districts could be forced to dedicate a larger proportion of their final budgets to the cost of serving students with disabilities at the expense of other important priorities .

And the impact on America’s large population of people with disabilities can be far -reaching. If Trump is acting on Plans to cut down Federal Medicaid -FinancingK-12 students and adults with disabilities could face steeper obstacles to access affordable healthcare.

Current Federal Education Programs also provide critical subsidies to many school systems via Title in assigns It prioritizes federal funding for schools serving poorly given children. Republican governors and state laws could have problems with the potential demolition of these grants.

In addition to these specific areas, education is simply not an unpopular focus of federal money and staff, as opposed to, for example, the “foreign aid” that was distributed by USAID. A recent Wall Street Journal vote showed that 61 percent of Americans are opposed to plans to eliminate the Department of Education. And a bipartisan Survey of November 2024 showed Republicans in rank and file that opposed this idea with a two-to-one margin.

This is one of quite a few Trump agendas who want to test whether Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue want to pay political capital to do something that a segment of Maga Base loves, but the general voters can not at all suffer. Even if Elon Musk or Christian Nationalists want to kill the Ministry of Education, Republican members of Congress from the Swing Districts may feel otherwise.

See everyone