COLUMN: Trump Cuts Department of Education

On March 20^th, President Trump signed an executive order to within time dismantle the Department of Education. This means multiple things both good and bad for federally supported departments and school systems. A statement from The White House explains what will be happening for now, including insight on how the department started in 1979 with President Jimmy Carter. Though Jimmy Carter instated the department we know today, the department dates back almost 100 years prior starting with President Lincoln and his successor Andrew Johnson in 1867. Although it only stayed as the Department of education for 2 years, after this the name and function were changed multiple times from United States Office of Education, and the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It was not until 1979 the department was reinstated by Jimmy Carter “establish policy for, administer, and coordinate most federal assistance to education, collect data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.”  

At the beginning of the department as we know it the department had 3,000 workers and a budget of $12 billion, congress later increased that to 17,000 employees and a budget of $14.2 billion. The Department does not decide what students are taught; that is left to the state. The department is designed for creating policies, monitoring federal funding of education, studying schools, and ensuring equal education for students.  

In 2020 the department’s spending for Oklahoma alone totaled $1.8 billion. Federal student loans were at $900,000, and the federal Pell grant funding was getting $300,000. These numbers have been steadily growing and so have the number of staff in their offices (as of 2025 the Office of Federal Student Aid has fewer the 1,500 employees).  

There has been much confusion and speculation about what will happen to the funding of the programs and policies that went through the Department of Education. As of now it is understood that most funding will be allocated to the department of Treasury where they will decide on where and what the funding will go to throughout the states. This could mean a few different things for programs like the child Nutrition Act, title 1 and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Although all the funding is dispersed and regulated by the Department of education the funding first is approved by the President where congress then votes on how much money each program will receive during an annual appropriations process that aims to allocate money to support students and higher education. It is still unclear exactly what the Trump administration will be doing to move these programs to keep them accessible, but we can expect most humanitarian programs like IDEA moved to the Department of health and human services. This could mean different things for how money will be allocated to states and how the state representatives could re-evaluate their spending to better student education. With record lows in reading and math proficiency throughout the country, the worst in 30 years, it is the people’s job to make sure your school boards are held responsible for educating the youth. Always stay in touch with your school district and what they are doing, if you think something should be changed in your school district it is within your power and your right as an American citizen to bring it to the school board and challenge them.  

This column is non-partisan and aims to inform the Langston community about what is happening and the facts of what is happening in the government. We plan on updating this column or adding a new addition bi-weekly and encouraging public participation in the comment section. We ask that you keep all conversation respectful and engage in civil conversation.