Trump administration’s agenda to dismantle the US Education Department: How far will it go?
For decades, the United States Department of Education has played a central, if sometimes contentious, role in American schooling. It distributes billions in federal funding, oversees civil rights enforcement, and tracks student achievement. But the Trump administration has set its sights on a more radical transformation: dismantling the department entirely. Recent developments offer a glimpse of just how far that effort could reach.
A department in retreat
Over the past three weeks, the Education Department has largely halted operations due to the government shutdown, while the Trump administration has laid off more than 460 employees. These cuts compound earlier layoffs in March that had already eliminated half of the department’s workforce, including its research arm responsible for monitoring US student performance, which has been at three-decade lows.The latest reductions specifically target offices that handle two core functions: dispersing federal funds to states and school districts, and enforcing federal special education and civil rights laws. Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, defended the approach on social media, stating, “Millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states.”While local and state governments manage the day-to-day operations of schools, the federal government accounts for approximately 10% of public school funding and plays a critical role in enforcing federal law. The latest layoffs could severely limit that capacity, bringing the Trump administration closer to its goal of effectively shutting down the department.
Students with disabilities at risk
Among the hardest hit are the offices that enforce the rights of students with disabilities. Nearly all staff at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services were laid off. This office administers $15 billion annually and ensures compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, The New York Times reports.Civil rights enforcement has also been affected. The Office for Civil Rights investigates complaints of discrimination based on race, sex, age, national origin, and disability. Data from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, cited by The Times, indicates that enforcement staff have been reduced to a fraction of their previous numbers, leaving five regional offices with minimal capacity.For families, the impact is immediate. Sydney Rendel, a lawyer in Florida who works with families of students with disabilities, told The Times, “These are families who feel like they have no voice and no recourse. It’s almost like the law exists, but there is nobody to really enforce it.”Experts warn that dismantling these offices undermines decades of federally mandated protections. Margaret Spellings, Education Secretary under President George W. Bush, described the situation as “a thwarting of federal law and the requirements that have been enacted by Congress over many decades,” The Times reports.
Civil rights enforcement further weakened
The Office for Civil Rights received a record 22,687 complaints last year, an increase of more than 200% over five years. Catherine E. Lhamon, former assistant secretary for civil rights, explained that after the March cuts, investigators were managing an average caseload of 168 cases — “an unprecedented and unmanageable number,” The Times reports.Further layoffs now threaten to erode the office’s capacity to address racial and gender discrimination, while critics note that enforcement has increasingly focused on issues aligned with the Trump administration’s policy priorities, including transgender bathroom policies and racial equity programs.
Federal funding and financial aid
Not all functions have been compromised. The Office of Federal Student Aid, responsible for student loans, remains largely intact, ensuring that most financial aid continues despite the shutdown. Similarly, federal funding for school districts, including $18 billion for low-income students, has already been disbursed for the current school year.Questions remain, however, about next year’s funding. Programs such as the Impact Aid Program, which reimburses districts affected by federal land holdings, rely on smaller staff teams now stretched thin. Cherise Imai, executive director of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, told The Times, “With no staff, we are really unsure how the department plans on releasing those funds.”
Legal and political hurdles
The layoffs are currently being challenged in court, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked them. The Trump administration could reinstate employees after the shutdown, or continue to defend the cuts as it has in previous legal battles, including at the Supreme Court.The broader policy context is outlined in Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for remaking federal agencies. The plan includes moving civil rights enforcement to the Department of Justice and shifting responsibilities for students with disabilities to other agencies, changes that would require congressional approval. Kenneth L. Marcus, who oversaw the civil rights office during Trump’s first term, told The Times, “Cutting so many civil rights investigators really only makes sense if one is looking at a broader picture that involves increases in work done by other agencies.”
The implications
Trump has long argued that the Department of Education adds bureaucracy without improving outcomes. He has proposed a 15% budget cut for the next year and suggested that many functions could be returned to state control. The recent layoffs and operational freezes demonstrate a strategy aimed not merely at cost reduction, but at systemic dismantling.If these measures hold, the consequences could be profound: weakened enforcement of civil rights and special education laws, delayed or uncertain federal funding for schools, and an unprecedented contraction of the federal role in education oversight.As McMahon framed it on X, the aim is to “root out the education bureaucracy that has burdened states and educators with unnecessary oversight.” The question that remains is whether dismantling the department will advance educational outcomes, or leave millions of students without the protections and resources Congress intended.
