Trump vows to gut Department of Education

Trump is moving through campaign promises with breakneck speed.

It would appear that the Department of Education is now next on the list.

Trump has promised to gut the agency, and possibly try to eliminate it via executive order, but that will not be easy.

Act of Congress

Trump will be able to trim the agency, but abolishing the agency will take an act of Congress because it was established through congressional legislation.

Trump can issue the order, but it will be immediately challenged in court, and they will prevail. You cannot undo legislation passed through Congress via executive order.

Instead, Trump will have to work to dismantle the agency from within, removing programs outright or reassigning them to other departments.

Referring to Linda McMahon, who Trump nominated as Secretary of Education, Trump stated, “I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job.”

The National Education Association has been adamant that it will fight Trump every step of the way on this, adding that it is an attack on “students, educators, and public schools.”

I would say it is an attack on the public school system and some educators, for sure, and it should be.

The state of our public school system on a national scale is a complete and utter disgrace. There are clearly some public schools doing their jobs, but I can tell from my experience back in Philadelphia that the public school system was nothing more than a babysitting service and not a very good one.

We have all heard and seen the reports about how the United States is lacking in key areas of education, such as math and science, and there is simply no reason for this with the resources we have in this country.

Republicans have been trying to get rid of this department literally since it was created by Jimmy Carter.

When Ronald Reagan took office, he tried, but he was never able to get congressional support to make it happen.

Donald Trump will not have enough support either, but he can trim the department down to make it almost non-existent.

Trump wants the states to run the schools, and I say let them have it since the federal government has failed us.