by Natalie Hanson
posted Jan. 12
A second Trump presidency has spooked many public education advocates, but some say the administration may face resistance if the president pushes drastic changes like dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
According to education experts assembled in an Ethnic Media Services panel in December, the American education system may become a battleground for significant policy changes attacking federal support for the most vulnerable students, including LGBTQ+, immigrant and low-income students. Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, said the Trump Administration may target federal funding to schools as punishment for the use of inclusive instructional materials or diversity programs.
However, Noguera said, it’s unclear how many of Trump’s threats may actually be viable. Even many Republican members of Congress may not agree with pulling apart the federal education system without a clear plan, he said. The Department of Education provides essential funding and oversight for many programs, such as Title I to support low-income students, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, special education services and civil rights protections.
“No one knows what’s next because no one knows what’s going to happen,” Noguera said. “But, given what Trump has said he wants to do, and given who he’s appointed, Linda McMahon, to lead the U.S. Department of Education, my short answer is, get ready to rumble.”
Noguera said that resistance to school choice voucher programs — which propose using tax vouchers to send children to privately-run schools — may arise in red states. Voters in several states — Kentucky, Nebraska and Colorado — rejected such voucher initiatives, which he said shows distaste for subsidizing affluent families while defunding public systems that poor families rely on.
However, the country faces a swath of K-12 educational challenges, from huge gaps in achievement exacerbated during the pandemic, particularly in math scores, and troubles with teaching children to read and to get interested in science and civics and government early in life. Officials who want to trim public schools’ budgets further will face opposition, Noguera said. Republican states like West Virginia and Oklahoma have worked hard to support community schools – public schools serving K-12 students with community partnerships to help support families of students.
Thomas Toch, founding director of think tank FutureEd at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, said the administration may try to eliminate obstacles for the for-profit higher education sector. He said Trump hasn’t demonstrated an interest in improving conditions within the nation’s public schools, and favors leaders from the for-profit sector like former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
But Toch, a founder and former co-director of the think tank Education Sector, said that anxiety around Trump encouraging school choice vouchers is warranted due to growing support from red states. He disagreed with Noguera’s optimism, saying enough Republicans in Congress may support legislation for expanding voucher programs and cutting funds for public schools across the board.
“We can’t forget that Republicans now have control of the House, the Senate and the White House,” Toch said, although he quickly added: “It’s unclear how far it will all go. There will be lots of lawsuits.”
Despite the Constitution being “silent” on the issue of education, federal leadership is critical to address the untenable state of education gaps around the country, Toch said.
“The culture war battles, the budget cuts, they miss the larger point … that many of our students in this country are struggling academically, and they were before the pandemic made it even worse,” Toch said.
Thomas Saenz, president of the Latino legal civil rights organization MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), noted Trump’s history of making promises to implement a wide range of policies that he couldn’t keep.
Saenz pointed to a 1982 Supreme Court decision out of Texas, Plyler v. Doe – that ruled that states cannot deny students a free public education based on their immigration status. He said the case should in theory prevent ICE raids at K-12 schools, and is one of many pieces of litigation spelling out existing civil rights protections for students, which would be difficult to repeal.
The Trump Administration will need to head to court to get around the need for Congressional approval on many policy changes — or use fear-based tactics to pressure local governments to make their own changes, Saenz said.
“There will be a daily barrage of rhetoric that is anti-immigrant, that is ant-DEI, anti-civil rights and anti-education,” Saenz said. “In fact, this is a calculated campaign designed to cause folks, including local education officials, to act on their own in retreating from what is attacked by the president and his cabinet members. But that rhetoric cannot be made real in most cases without Congressional action. They have limited rights outside of court to do anything.”
The California Department of Education also in December announced its intention to fight any attempt to abolish the federal Department of Education. California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said on Dec. 4 that he met with members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation to discuss how to block such efforts, since federal education funds provide $7.9 billion annually to support California’s public schools.
Thurmond said he intends to lead national outreach to inform constituents across the country about the potential loss of special education funding and other critical supports in order to encourage communities to ask Congress to preserve such vital programs.
“Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education would have devastating consequences for public education, especially for students with disabilities and families in low-income communities,” Thurmond said. “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Every student deserves access to a quality education. It’s our collective responsibility to ensure the protections and resources guaranteed by federal law remain in place.”
Updates from the state Department of Education can be followed on the agency’s website. More information about programs in California’s public schools that are supported by federal funding can be found on the state’s Categorical Programs web page under the “Federal Programs” tab.
Natalie Hanson is a contributing editor to ChicoSol.