President Donald Trump announced actions limiting the scope of the Department of Education late last week. The department houses multiple UT-related programs that could be affected. Here’s what you need to know:
What does the Department of Education do for UT students, faculty and staff?
“(The Department of Education is) not necessarily boots on the ground telling schools what to do,” said Dave DeMatthews, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. “Instead, they’re funding research, researchers and experts to provide support where they’re needed.”
The department also administers grants to higher education institutions for research promoting equal access to education, and has given grants to institutes within UT’s College of Education to support low-income K-12 public schools. Rachel White, an associate professor in Educational Leadership and Policy, said previous grants paid for some of her research.
“There are multi-million dollar grants, hundreds of millions of dollars of grants, going to universities for research to be conducted that help pay for faculty, for students, for staff,” White said.
The department also enforces civil rights protections for students in K-12 and higher education institutions, and will manage the federal student loan portfolio until it relocates to the Small Business Administration.
Did Trump close the Department of Education?
Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education,” and on Friday announced an effort to move the student loan portfolio out of the Education Department to the Small Business Administration.
“Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child,” Trump said in the order. “Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.”
McMahon also began enforcing a reduction in force of the education department, which halved the size of the agency on Friday. However, the 1979 law establishing the Department of Education remains in effect, and the department cannot be fully dismantled without Congressional approval.
“The Department of Education was established through Congressional action, and only can be dismantled fully through congressional action,” White said. “By doing the reductions in force, that’s a different way around, like they can get rid of the Department of Education.”
What is next for higher education research?
DeMatthews said the impacts on education research are uncertain. White said the reduction in workers will reduce the education department’s ability to issue guidance for researchers and to manage student loans.
“I would anticipate slowdowns,” White said. “We know when people are overworked and potentially underpaid, that leads to burnout and so if there are fewer people that are working there, and their workload is just unmanageable, it could lead to more attrition even within the department because the job is no longer manageable.”
White and DeMatthews said researchers have begun losing access to databases which hold student data for research purposes.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the Department of Education exists or not,” DeMatthews said. “What matters is that children’s civil rights are protected and students’ needs are met. And if it can happen through another department, that’s fine. What you have here is very clear what’s happening: there is no plan.”
Editor’s note: Professors quoted in the article are speaking as individuals and not on behalf of the University.
