Massive layoffs hit the Education Department after President Trump vowed to close it down.
As the Department of Education announces that it is cutting its workforce in half, laying off thousands of workers, some people are wondering: What does the Department of Education do?
The layoffs were the first step toward getting rid of the department altogether, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in an interview.
Congress established the Department of Education (DOE) in October 1979, approved by former President Jimmy Carter. Abolishing the agency would require approval by Congress.
President Carter’s successor, President Ronald Reagan, vowed to shut down the department in the 1980s, but was not able to get the plan through Congress.
President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education,
“One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states,” Trump said in a " target="_blank">September 2023 video.
About 4,000 people worked for the Department of Education previously; following the cuts, roughly 2,000 workers remain there.
The DOE is run by the Secretary of Education in the president's cabinet. McMahon, President Trump’s education secretary, was formerly chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
What are the responsibilities of the Department of Education?
After Congress established the Department of Education, the department's seven objectives in law are:
- Helping ensure access to equal educational opportunity for everyone.
- Support states, localities and public and private institutions.
- Promote improvements in education through research, evaluation, and the sharing of information.
- Improve the management and efficiency of federal education activities.
- Increase the accountability of federal education programs to the President, Congress, and the public.
- Encourage the public to be involved in federal education programs.
- Improve the coordination of federal education programs.
The DOE also manages federal special education programs established through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: This includes oversight of IEPs (Individual Education Programs) and 504 plans, both of which ensure students with special needs can get an education.
The department has its own office of civil rights to ensure equal access to education and promote education through enforcement of civil rights.
Another major role of the DOE is to manage the distribution of grants for need-based financial aid.
This includes Pell Grants for financial aid in undergraduate programs. The department says it provides grants, loans and work-study programs to more than 12 million students nationwide.
What is the difference between federal and state education departments?
Most of education is controlled at the local and state level. The federal government oversees education money, but directly contributes only around 8% of funding, according to the DOE's website.
States, local governments and private groups contribute the other 92% of funds for elementary and secondary level education. The DOE provides money for education as "a means of filling gaps in State and local support for education when critical national needs arise," according to the department.
Who is the United States Secretary of Education?
Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wresting Entertainent (WWE) and wife to Vince McMahon, became President Trump's Secretary of Education on March 3 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a vote of 51-45.
Besides her work as a businesswoman, McMahon served on the Connecticut state board of education for a year and the Sacred Heart University Board of Trustees, according to the Associated Press.
"I am prepared to lead the Department in this transformational time and embrace the challenge to improve the education system for the more than 100 million children and college students who deserve better," McMahon said in a press release.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
