Final week Individuals bought their first take a look at what a revamped Division of Training may appear to be underneath Linda McMahon, the Trump administration’s nominee to steer the DOE because it strikes towards winding down the Federal authorities’s function in schooling coverage and packages.
Whereas testifying earlier than the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor, and Pensions, McMahon expressed the understanding that “dismantling” the company completely would take an act of Congress. As a substitute, she painted an image of a considerably pared-back company that might preserve a handful of key packages (Title 1 for low-income colleges, Pell Grants, and Public Service Mortgage Forgiveness) however transfer others into completely different departments. Particularly, McMahon questioned whether or not the People with Disabilities Training Act “could very effectively relaxation higher” within the Division of Well being and Human Providers, and whether or not the Workplace for Civil Rights could be a greater match for the Justice Division.
It stays to be seen how main DOE adjustments will align with among the administration’s different objectives. In keeping with an AP article, at the same time as Trump talks about eliminating the DOE, he has “created new work for the division, together with plans to advertise ‘patriotic’ schooling and efforts to go after colleges that educate controversial classes on race and gender.”
Getting the help of Congress for large-scale change just isn’t a given as a result of the packages that the DOE says it’s going to preserve are supported by each side of the aisle. Whereas coverage issues change ceaselessly, college students of historical past in favor of sustaining a strong DOE want solely look to 2023 when 60 Republicans joined Democrats in stopping passage of a Home invoice that known as for the closure of the DOE.
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