PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Department of Education could be on its way out. At any time, President Donald Trump could make the decision to take steps to dismantle it.
White House officials are preparing an executive order which would start the dismantling process. It’s something Trump has been talking about for years.
“One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states. We want them to run the education of our children because they’ll do a much better job of it,” Trump said in September 2023.
Entirely eliminating the Department of Education would require Congressional approval. On Thursday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said he’s worried about losing federal funding for school districts.
“The idea that ‘Everything will be fine because we’re not going to have a Department of Education, it’s just going to be someplace else’ — they’re already planning to get rid of that money that allegedly they’re sending us, so I have no trust in that,” Evers said.
Each year, the Department of Education provides billions of dollars in funding to schools. Evers is concerned if the department is eliminated, schools will struggle to support students — especially those with special needs — and asking the public for money would become even more frequent.
“You think people have a lot of referendums now? Good lord, they’d have to be doing them every six months just to cover the money that they’re planning on cutting,” Evers said.
On the other side, Republicans believe dismantling the department will have positive effects.
“I really like this a lot because it’s going to hopefully empower us at the state level to have a lot more control as opposed to just dealing with strings from the federal government that we know aren’t solving real problems,” Republican State Sen. Andre Jacque said.
He believes ending the department will bring even more money to schools and special education programs.
“When you look at the amount of money that gets taken out in overhead and administrative costs, there’s a whole lot more money that could go directly to helping students and funding education at the local level,” Jacque said.
In a statement, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) said:
Trump’s plans for public education are clear, and if he succeeds the real victims will be the most vulnerable students in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. Gutting the Education Department will increase class sizes, and greatly impact special education services for students with disabilities.
In a statement, Republican Congressman Tony Wied said:
By every metric, the Department of Education has consistently failed America’s students. I trust Wisconsin educators over federal bureaucrats any day and I will always be a proponent of returning more power to the states and our local officials.
Right now, there’s no indication when the executive order will be signed.
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