Education advocates say they’re worried and alarmed about the Trump administration’s moves toward dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
That department plays an important role for students and teachers throughout the country, said Angelique Power, president and CEO of the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation. One of its most crucial functions is distributing what are known as Title I funds to schools with a significant proportion of low-income and underserved students.
“In Detroit, home of the largest public school district in our state, 82% of students are from low-income households and 34% of the Detroit Public School Community District’s revenue comes from federal Title 1 funds,” according to a release from the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity, which includes Skillman. The statement goes on to say that nearly 14% of K-12 funding for all Michigan schools during the current school year came from federal funds.
“The Department of Education is really about giving all students a fair shot,” Power said. “It helps students through tutoring. It helps students through summer programs and after-school programs. It trains teachers so that they can enact some of these programs better. The full package is actually what we need to increase student outcomes.”
Power also pointed out that if the Department of Education is stripped down or largely goes away, and its functions returned to individual states, Michigan is going to have to step up and assume its role.
“It is extremely important that we say if this is going to happen, then what is in its place?” Power said. "We have to make sure in Michigan that our students, that our kids, are not collateral damage of political rhetoric.”
Heather Eckner, director of Statewide Education for the Autism Alliance of Michigan, made a similar point about the new role states will have to play in this scenario. Another one of the Department of Education’s primary functions has been to investigate and enforce laws that protect students with disabilities.
“It's an inflection point, and where we go from here is going to have critical impact,” Eckner said. "What is Michigan going to do to ensure that we are protecting the rights, and we are providing access and opportunities for all kids, including kids with disabilities?“
Eckner said it’s particularly “alarming” that the administration has already dismissed a large percentage of staffers for the department’s Office of Civil Rights, which investigates and enforces the law in alleged cases of school-based discrimination. That included eliminating entire offices of that sub-agency around the country, including its Cleveland, Ohio, office, which had handled cases coming out of Michigan.
“Data out of the Office for Civil Rights over the past few years has shown that disability complaints were at some of their highest levels,” Eckner said. She said that for advocates of students with disabilities, “There is a deeper strategy that needs to be done, which is complicated by the rate at which things are happening, and the confusion about whether some of these things are even legal.”
Regarding data, Power said that collecting, maintaining, and sharing it was another one of the Department of Education’s primary functions. But now, “across federal websites, we're watching data disappear,” she said.
Power added that polling shows a large majority of the public, regardless of political affiliation, does not support the Trump administration’s stance on this issue.
“Two-thirds of Democrats and Republicans have said that they are not in favor of dismantling the Department of Education,” Power said. “This is a very, very unpopular move.”
The Trump administration has said the U.S. Department of Education is an "experiment" that "has failed our children," and that slashing the department is part of Trump's efforts to eliminate "bureaucratic bloat"
