Trump and his minions are preparing to dismantle the Department of Education and move on to dismantling public education and teacher unions, and perhaps our democracy.
The Department of Education is the smallest and most recent cabinet level department. As part of LBJ’s Great Society the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) became law and under Title 1 of the law federal dollars began to flow to the states to address poverty. Students eligible for free and reduced price lunch were eligible. The funds flowed to the states using census data and from the states to school districts and schools within the states. Prior to the creation of the Education Department education programs were housed in different sections of the federal government and in 1979, under President Carter the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress. Over the years ESEA was reauthorized and became No Child Left Behind (2001) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (2016).
What does the Department of Education do?
…the Education Department disburses Title I funds to elementary and secondary schools with large low-income student enrollments; collects data on schools; oversees the recognition of accrediting agencies and programs that support higher education institutions; protects students against racial and sex-based discrimination; and manages student financial aid assistance programs, including loans and grants.
The department awarded $120.8 billion in federal loans, grants and work-study funds in fiscal year 2024 to more than 9.9 million college and career school students, according to an unaudited annual report by Federal Student Aid.
See here for a detailed explanation of the role of the Department of Education.
Over the last few days Trump has announced his intention to close down the Department of Education claiming American schools are 40th out of 40 schools tested worldwide, see PISA score worldwide here
The most recent PISA scores places the United States 17th among 61 nations, Trump also claimed we are # 1 in cost per student, the per capita cost per student ranges widely from state to state, actually red states receive more per capita Title1 funding than blue states
Trump just announced the canceling of $800M in contracts at the research arm of the Department of Education, for example, the What Works Clearinghouse, widely used by teachers and school districts to assess and choose curriculum.
Can the President curtail Title 1 and other federal funding and send larger amounts of funding to charter schools and vouchers?
Can he place limits on the collective bargaining rights of teachers and their unions?
The answer is “yes,” and with both houses of Congress with Republican majorities it is likely.
Before November 5th I would have said absolutely not, now, there increasingly seem to be no limits on presidential power. See Vice President Vance’s comment about the limited power of the Supreme Court
Public schools and teachers unions are in jeopardy, and, as I said in a previous post, if we don’t hang together we will most assuredly hang separately (thanks Ben Franklin)
Who would have thought the opposition caucuses within the largest teacher union are Trump allies?
“Planning to go on strike” as a prime strategy, willing to work with Republicans, which means working with Trump, fracturing the Municipal Labor Coalition, and knowingly lying or willful ignorance of the world in which we live
We can end up with Cuomo as mayor and a Republican governor in 2026.
The opposition caucuses criticized Mulgrew for somehow placing Class Size Reduction into law as well as convincing the legislative leaders to hold the passage of the budget until the school cap in NYC was restored and saving thousands of teacher jobs.
I don’t know how he managed it, Mulgrew and his team are nimble and understand how to navigate the murky halls of Albany and City Hall.
“Preparing to strike” and “endorsing Republicans” and “fracturing the Municipal Labor Coalition” are suicidal policies.
Paraprofessionals deserve higher salaries, the UFT, led by Michael Mulgrew, convinced the speaker of the City Council to introduce a bill requiring a “recurring annual payment” of $10,000: the opposition caucuses, “let’s reopen the contract” Ludicrous, why would we want to jeopardize already negotiated gains? Why would the Mayor agree? We’re not the person or organization who could pardon him.
With each day we move from a democracy, a contentious democracy but a democracy, to an oligarchy.
About forty lawsuits have been filed in federal courts challenging the actions of Musk and Trump, Ghepetto and Pinochio, and are wending their way to the Supreme Court, it is possible that the three liberal justices, Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson, may be joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Barrett, and overturn the presidential ukases.
Napoleon and the Pope were battling and the Pope moved to excommunicate Napoleon, who asked, “How many legions has the Pope?” Ghepetto and Pinochio could simply ignore the Supreme Court. When Andrew Jackson forcibly removed the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral homeland (“Trail of Tears “) the Supreme Court ruled against President Jackson, who ignored the order.
Would a “constitutional crisis” be the first step towards the end of elections?
One would expect the various factions within the UFT would put their differences aside and work together, a coalition of unions, perhaps led by Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew could lead a fight for the very survival of out nation.
The opposition caucuses are not only oblivious, seemingly living in another galaxy, a galaxy far, far away from the realities we face, by their action they have effectively joined the “evil pair.”
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 