Known to most school communities, the U.S. Department of Education has been dismantled and ordered to shut down by the Trump Administration. Taxpayers have expressed their varying opinions on the matter, causing an uprise in controversy.

Like all changes made by the government, this one repeatedly affects citizens every day. This change by the Trump administration enforces a detrimental shift for many people. This alteration in the United States threatens one of the most crucial aspects of human development, education.

Weakening Civil Rights Enforcement

This destruction infringed on the department’s ability to follow the Amendments and laws made by Congress. According to the ACLU, Trump’s plans threaten safeguards and funding provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which guarantees that children with disabilities receive access to a free and appropriate public education. This act will endanger those who rely on IDEA to their rightful access to legally entitled methods of education, causing unfair treatment towards numerous areas of people.

The department also eliminated seven of the 12 regional offices of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), leaving only five offices. The OCR enforces federal civil rights laws on programs like education. Without the majority of the offices being in place, crucial protections against discrimination based on race, origin, ancestry, sex, LGBTQ+ status, disability and age continue to disappear and weaken.

Budget Funds and Staff

According to ProPublica, this move affects public school students across the country, causing the department to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding for a variety of programs, including private school vouchers and mental health professionals used for training and supporting new teachers.

While these programs help support schools in many ways, their funding continues to take away more important things like student resource programs, staff and textbooks. Education accounts for four percent of all federal spending. Consequently, these vouchers and ‘teacher programs’ lower student academic achievement, resulting in even less funding given to schools.

Political Interference in Curriculum

In previous circumstances, the federal government never influenced the curriculum in schools. Now, however, the department chooses to ‘prioritize patriotic education,’ which should really be referred to as concealing aspects of schools’ curriculum by skipping sensitive subjects in history that could offend students. ProPublica continues to mention that critics claim that the administration aims to present a sanitized version of history, downplaying harsher episodes, including racial oppression and sexism. 

Even though this act seems to protect children from learning about gory or inappropriate subjects, it is still simply twisting the aspect of true history. When this happens, in the future, the truth can be misrepresented even more, creating false facts in the learning curriculum.

Along with politics, the Department of Education also encourages administrators to promote religion in classrooms. Department officials “are now pursuing policies that align with conservative Christian values, including opposing protections for transgender students and restricting materials about sexuality” after announcing, early this year, that they now intend to reside within President Donald Trump´s demands that there be “two sexes, male and female.”

The subjects of religion and sexuality have no business being talked about in schools, given that students are not tested on these things. It is also morally and legally wrong for administrators to mention politics, religion, and sexuality to keep influence out of the learning process.

“The Bible is an important part of the American story,” Trump said. “I intend to protect the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding, and we will protect them with vigor.”

While this promise will protect Christian students and administrators, it could also disturb people not of the Christian religion, potentially infringing upon their academic abilities.

All of these small-perspective changes happening to the Department of Education, even though seeming nice on the outside, negatively affect students more than government officials and executives care to admit, symbolizing the hypocrisy of America.