Administration after administration has passed the walls of the White House with disagreements ranging from policy to social disparities to arguments as simple as deciding holidays. The common denominator between each administration being that, regardless of viewpoint, legislative due process was followed. Unfortunately, for the constituents of this administration, it seems that “due process” is simply a suggestion at best. March 20, 2025, will historically become known as the day that President Donald Trump attacked education by signing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
The DoE is one of the smallest cabinet level departments, with its spending of $268 billion in 2024 only representing 4% of the total U.S. budget. In 2024, the Office of Federal Student Aid distributed over $160 billion to students in need of tuition assistance across the U.S., demonstrating its crucial role in enabling the creation of opportunities for many students across the United States.
On March 11, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the administration would be initiating a reduction in the workforce, unfortunately impacting nearly 50% of the department’s employees. When Trump took office, the DoE’s workforce stood at 4,133 workers, but since the announcement, the employee total now stands at a staggering 2,183.
The elimination of over half of the federal education workforce is a blatant attack on the foundation of the DoE with ulterior motives; Trump and McMahon know they cannot disband the Department of Education without congressional approval. The Trump administration’s cruel solution to bypassing the need for congressional support lies in gutting the DoE, bleeding it dry through attacks on the workforce and operations of the department.
Sheria Smith, President of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the Trump administration has misled the public on what the department does.
“So we must ask our fellow Americans: do you want your and your children’s rights enforced in school,” Smith questioned. “If yes, then you rely on the Department of Education, and the services you rely on and the employees who support them are under attack.”
For decades, conservatives have talked about dismantling the DoE, trailing back to the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The discussions in the past have involved mass layoffs, budget cuts and transfer of responsibility for the department. The Trump administration is supposedly assuring this transfer of responsibility. White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, stated that “critical programs will be protected,” speaking specifically to the transfer of student loans, Federal Pell Grants and Title 1 loans to other departments within the Trump administration.
Many advocates for differently abled children say that dismantling the DoE will strip resources from disabled children. Keri Rodrigues, co-founder of the National Parents Union, said she fears the dismantling of the DoE would leave parents of differently-abled children with nowhere to turn to when their children are treated unfairly — speaking specifically to how only those with the resources to sue will be able to attain justice for their kids.
French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre believed, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
On March 20, 2025, the Trump administration launched its attack on education. Based on Robespierrian ideology, what they truly attacked was the freedoms ensured by the constitution Am: the freedom to break the cycle of poverty through federal assistance, to inspire curiosity through scholastic programs and to finally be the first child in your family to complete a college education. Robespierre and many others would agree that not only did this administration launch an attack on education, but they also launched an attack on the American Dream.
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