In late March, the Trump administration announced its intention to close as much of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) as it could get away with. Through budget cuts, massive layoffs, and funding becoming block grants to states, the ED will degenerate into a rump information bureau. All public education is threatened by the slashing of the ED’s equal opportunity and financial mandates.
The response from opponents has been swift and defiant.
Union educators held “walk-in” protests from Tacoma Park, Maryland, to Tucson, Arizona. Pro-environment youth joined Washington, D.C., university students outside ED headquarters demanding “Hands Off Our Schools.”
A clear majority of U.S. people disagree with the government’s move. Get ready for a fight to protect public education.
Who will be affected?
On May 4, Trump released a “skinny” budget proposal that revealed few details. However, analysts say the budget would wring $4.5 billion from K-12 schools. Programs that support English language learning and support for children of migrant farm workers would be eliminated. And $315 million would be slashed from preschool development.
Decreased funding brings teacher shortages, already a problem in high-poverty areas. This means overcrowded classes, a known obstacle to student achievement. Some $70 million would be cut for professional development for teachers.
On the higher education level, federal work-study programs would lose $1 billion. Assistance to impoverished college students would be cut $910 million. Adult education would lose $720 million. Howard University, a historically Black institution, would lose $64 million.
Half of the ED’s civil rights offices have been closed, with many employees fired. Instead of righting injustices, the office is now tasked with rooting out school support for trans students, or programs smacking of diversity, equity and inclusion. Around 90% of cases alleging discrimination are being dismissed, many of which involve students with disabilities. Students of color, victims of sexual harassment, pregnant teens, and LGBTQ+ youth will all lose protections.
Political goals
Who gains from the ED closure? Corporate America, which looks forward to privatizing public education, attacking teachers unions, and creating a docile workforce.
Under the guise of “choice,” the administration is pushing more money for taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools. Many parents will feel compelled to turn to charter schools as public options are downgraded. Vouchers will enable some to switch to private institutions, but the cost will still be too high for poor people. The result? Inferior public instruction primarily for the poor, and higher-ranked private schools for people of means. “No worries,” though. Privatization offers investment opportunities for Wall Street!
Trump’s playbook is Project 2025, produced by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The group has stated that “teachers’ unions bent the Education Department to their will” — and called to “shut it down to throttle their power.” This is a challenge to all unions.
Trump’s goal is for states to take over education policy and drop diversity and human rights standards. Many states are already promoting authoritarianism and patriarchal norms in the classroom. More than 4,000 books have been banned, especially those dealing with racism, slavery, genocide, and gender non-conformity. The state of Louisiana attempted to require posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms. To corporations, students are merely future workers who must be indoctrinated. They seek to impose obedience from the classroom to the workplace.
Now you see it, now you don’t
Signed into law by President Carter in 1979, the Department of Education has enacted important gains under pressure from the working class.
There have also been steps backwards. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” and Obama’s “Race to the Top” included punitive testing and assessments. They promoted school closures and teacher firings.
Clearly, the ED has always been a battleground between the opposing interests of workers and capitalists. Workers need quality education to improve their lives. Corporations gain profits by educating their workforce at public expense. What workers won in the past can be taken away tomorrow.
Fight for high quality public education
It is possible to fight back and win with a sound strategy. The key is activism and organizing around strong demands. Students, parents, teachers, staff and community members must come together to resist. Protests, strikes, sit-ins, public testimony — nothing is ruled out except passive reliance on accommodation-seeking politicians.
Demands should include: No funding cuts to poor communities. No public money for private schools. Teach real science and the true history of slavery, genocide and resistance. No book banning, racial or LGBTQ+ discrimination, or religion in public schools. Full inclusion of disabled and immigrant children. Small class sizes, increased pay for educators, and pro-child federal standards with which all states must comply.
The three-million-strong National Education Association declared its readiness to defend vulnerable students. Its rank and file must hold the leadership to this promise.
History teaches that a labor party is needed to defend the interests of workers and their children. Let’s act on that lesson as we fight for the future of education.
Hurting the most vulnerable
5 million: Number of students hurt by dismantling the Office of English Language Acquisition, which provides resources and grants to help immigrants learn English.
PHOTO: Adobe Stock
7 out of 12: Number of Office of Civil Rights regional branches that have reportedly had staff eliminated, leaving millions of children without protection from discrimination.
12–13%: Amount of money used for special needs students that comes from federal funding. Eliminating the Department of Education would move this money to the states, but with no guarantee it would be spent for that purpose.
Sources: The National Center for Education Statistics, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and National Education Policy Center.
