President Donald Trump’s new administration has recently brought forth new changes to the federal education system. As they go into effect over the next few months, these alterations will impact Mt. SAC Early College Academy (MECA) students and staff and the rest of the country. But what exactly are these proposed and implemented adjustments to the system, and what effects will they have on education in America?
On March 28, 2025, President Trump signed an official executive order calling for the DE to be shut down after recently announcing the DE would be cutting 50% of its staff weeks earlier. However, the DE can not entirely shut down until Congress approves it.
Trump and the Republican party have made political moves to shut down the DE for several years. At his pre-election political campaign rally on September 23, 2024, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, he explicitly stated his plans to shut down the DE in an effort to shift the control of education from the government to the hands of the state. This effort to shut down the DE goes along with some of his plans for Agenda47, which he proposed back in late 2023.
Many believe that the DE has too much power in controlling education, leaving no room for interference. Others are upset over how much money the DE takes from federal funding. This has sparked a huge debate on who should control schools and if the DE should actually be dismantled.
“The dismantling of the DE would create chaos in the education system, as federal oversight ensures consistency in standards, funding, and legal protections for students and teachers,” wrote Erin Reid, President of the Teachers Association of West Covina. “Without it, states would have vastly different policies, leading to disparities in the quality of education.”
These plans bring many concerns over how dismantling the DE will affect education throughout the nation. It also brings many questions about what the DE does for the education system, students, and teachers.
A Very Brief History
Established in 1867, the DE was used to collect information on schools and teaching to create better schooling. They became responsible for providing land and federal assistance to universities and colleges nationwide. In 1946, they provided funding in high schools for agriculture, industry, and home economics with the George-Barden Act.
The 40s led to a lot of changes and developments in the Department of Education from the impacts of World War II. With the 1941 Lanham Act, the Impact Aid Laws of 1950, and the 1944 “GI Bill,” school districts began getting more funding, and military veterans were able to get college assistance.
During the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s and 70s, they developed laws prohibiting discrimination on race, sex, and disability. They also launched programs and acts to help children living in poor areas and financial aid for disadvantaged students.
In 1980, Congress established the DE to officially be controlled by the United States Cabinet, and it has been this way since.
Over the years, the department grew to support students from elementary up to college. Even today, they continue to provide support to students whether it’s through establishing and protecting rights, accessibility, or federal aid.
“They set guidelines for DI initiatives,” said Dr. Ryan McDonnell, principal of MECA. “They have an office of civil rights that handles issues and I’m on the list serve so I get emails when they update policy or they give you guidance. So they set frameworks for how we are inclusive”
Reasons for Shutting Down the DE
Some parents feel that if they protest against a school district, they are automatically shut down; they believe that they have no say whatsoever in their children’s education. According to a poll conducted by Gallup, 54% of parents are dissatisfied with the quality of education in the US. Trump claims that his goal in removing the DE is to help these parents by increasing their power over their children’s education.
These parents believe that they should have a larger say in what children are learning in the education system. There is a huge fear surrounding what children are learning in school when it comes to mature topics such as sex education and history.
“Parents’ influence over education could increase in some areas, especially if states take more control over curriculum decisions,” wrote Reid. “However, this could also lead to more politicized and inconsistent educational policies, where certain subjects, historical perspectives, or scientific facts could be selectively emphasized or removed depending on local political pressure.”
Yet what many parents do not know is that some rules are not set into place by the DE. In fact, some are actually placed by the states and school districts themselves.
“The Department of Education doesn’t dictate what we teach,” said McDonnell. “We have our national standards, your state adopt standard, your school districts adopt curriculums, [and] teachers implement. So it’s really more at the local level than the national level…we follow the standards and then our school board, based on feedback from our district, pick the curriculum.”
Trump also plans to cut programs focusing on race, gender, and sexuality, deeming them to be inappropriate for children to learn about, which is also what some parents are afraid of their children learning.
By cutting these programs, censorship in schools will vastly increase. There will be limits to what can be discussed and taught in schools, especially in certain subjects.
“Without federal oversight, states and local school boards would have more freedom to impose restrictions on curriculum and books,” wrote Reid “This could lead to increased censorship, particularly in areas related to history, science, and social issues. The DE currently provides guidelines that help prevent politically motivated censorship, ensuring that students receive a broad and fact-based education.”
Another reason why people support the shut down of the DE is because they think it takes too much away from federal funds. For the 2025 fiscal year, they requested $82.4 billion in discretionary funding, which is a 3.1 billion dollar increase from the 2024 year. The increase in budget, according to the DE, is to improve learning conditions for students, providing them mental health support, providing lower-income students access to a good education, and increasing diversity.
Student Affects
On January 20th, his first day in office in his second term as president, Trump ended some Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs initiated by former president Joe Biden. He stated that these are “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs” in his executive order. This means getting rid of some of Biden’s programs that extended certain laws to increase inclusivity.
One of the laws that Trump aims to rescind is Title IX, which was a law enforced in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federal-funded schools. On August 1, 2024, the Biden Administration enforced an expansion to Title IX to also protect transgender, LGBTIA+, and pregnant students and how schools handle sexual harassment and assault allegations.
“Through policies like Title IX, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and federal civil rights protections, the DE has ensured that students from all backgrounds—regardless of race, gender, or ability—have access to a quality education,” wrote Reid.
In a letter from Craig Trainor—the DE’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights—to K-12 and higher education schools, he informed them that Title IX will be reverted back to Trump’s 2020 Administration, which focuses on biological sex protections. This entails that students who identify as their biological sex will gain more rights, while students who do not will lose some of the few they have.
The shut down of the DE will also affect diversity in schools through special education and programs. If the DE is shut down, these programs can be cut from schools, especially with the DEI programs ending.
Without the DE, there will be a huge cut in financial aid for students, which helps to support students who cannot afford education on their own. This includes students in K-12 and even college, meaning it can affect MECA alumni.
47 MECA alumni are students or have graduated from Cal Poly Pomona. These alumni that attend Cal Poly or another college and rely on financial aid can face a multitude of problems if the DE is successfully shut down.
This will also affect school grants that provide money for schools and certain programs, especially ones that are DEI based such as special education.
“Federal funding that supports low-income, minority, and special-needs students could be cut or left to state discretion, potentially increasing discrimination and widening achievement gaps,” wrote Reid. “States with less commitment to diversity and inclusion could roll back policies that have historically helped marginalized students succeed.”
Some funds from the DE even provide awards for schools, such as the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Award that MECA won back in fall 2024.
“The federal government through the Department of Ed provides a lot of funding for specialized programs and grants. So special education is mostly funded through [the DE],” said McDonnell. “They do a lot of grants for title one, for low income students, for English learners, [and for] special populations. So they’ll receive school awards like our National Blue Ribbon with the Department of Ed.”
Teacher Affects
Teachers and staff of schools are also heavily impacted by the Department of Education. The DE is what provides teachers with salaries and certain rights that are enforced, such as teacher tenure, another thing that Trump aims to get rid of.
When teachers have tenure, it prevents them from being fired from their jobs without due process and reason. In California and a few other states, teachers get tenure after working at a school for two years. This means they automatically get tenure their third year working at a school.
The shutdown of the DE can have serious consequences for educators. Job security will decrease, which can cause a lack of teachers who will instead go on to pursue more stable jobs.
According to Reid, erasing tenure will allow schools to “let go of veteran teachers for financial reasons rather than merit or seniority.
“The Teachers Association of West Covina strongly supports tenure protections because they safeguard the quality of education,” wrote Reid. “Tenure ensures that teachers are evaluated fairly and can advocate for students without fear of unjust dismissal. Rather than eliminating tenure, we support improving teacher evaluation systems and processes to ensure accountability while protecting educators’ rights.”
Getting rid of tenure poses a huge risk to teachers and the education students receive. However, many parents suspect tenure of protecting educators just because they’ve been teaching for years, which Reid explains is not the case.
“People who don’t work in education assume tenure is about protecting ‘bad teachers’— however it is not, it’s about protecting all teachers from political or financial pressures that could harm students’ learning experiences,” wrote Reid.
Furthermore, educators who stand up against the elimination of DEI programs could face the possibility of losing their jobs.
“Most university professors that I know will not remain silent on this topic,” said Gerstenberger. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion remain worthy and necessary goals for many of us. And our refusal to be silenced could impact our jobs more so than the shuttering of any one government agency.
The Future of Education
Ever since Trump signed the official order that has the potential to shut down the DE, parents, students, and educators have all had varying opinions. Some welcomed this order with cheers, while others with panic, concerned about the future of students and education as a whole.
The order will not go into effect until Congress officially approves it, leaving many hopeful that it will still remain standing.
“Congress holds the power of the purse’ in this country, and they have allocated funds for particular purposes,” said Gerstenberger. “Additionally, Congress also created the ED. Eliminating the department via executive order does not negate the proper roles and functions assigned by Congress, and I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the courts.”
If Congress does approve to dismantle the DE, the rights of education will be handed to the states, who will be able to dictate and change certain programs, laws, restrictions, and regulations enforced in schools.
