'Guardrail is gone' Trump's plan to dismantle Department of Education raises fears of greater inequality

Record ID: 1984747

  • Title: 'Guardrail is gone' Trump's plan to dismantle Department of Education raises fears of greater inequality
  • Date: 20th March 2025
  • Summary: TUCKER, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 20, 2025) (REUTERS) LISA MORGAN, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER AND PRESIDENT OF THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS, SITTING AT HER DESK AND LOOKING AT HER COMPUTER VARIOUS OF MORGAN TYPING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LISA MORGAN, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER AND PRESIDENT OF THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS, SAYING: “The Department of Education was fo
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EDUCATION GOVERNMENT PRIVATE SCHOOL PUBLIC SCHOOLS SCHOOL TRUMP
  • Location: Atlanta & Tucker & Smyrna, Georgia, USA
  • City: Atlanta & Tucker & Smyrna, Georgia, USA
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Fundamental Rights/Civil Liberties,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA002051320032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to dismantle the federal Department of Education, fulfilling a campaign promise, on Thursday (March 20).
    The order will "begin to eliminate" the department, Trump said at a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Shuttering the department completely requires an act of Congress, and Trump lacks the votes to do so.
    "We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible," Trump said. "It's doing us no good."
    But, educators and advocates, argue that dismantling the department would disproportionately harm low-income students, particularly minorities, and lead to further educational inequities.
    Toni Jones, is a power of prevention specialist for COR, a nonprofit that is embedded inside of Carver early college, a high school in metro Atlanta. Jones works directly with low-income students daily to help remove the barrier associated with their economic status. 
    “For many of my students, there is already a feeling that nobody cares about me, that I'm responsible for myself,” Jones said. “And I think that this very much would affirm that for them.”
    Lisa Morgan, President of the Georgia Association of Educators, which has over 30,000 members, says this executive order will hurt students the most. 
    “That guardrail to ensure that we are fulfilling the promise that every single child has the right to a free, appropriate public education. That guardrail is gone and it is always going to be concerning that that's missing,” Morgan said.
    The department oversees some 100,000 public and 34,000 private schools in the United States, although more than 85% of public school funding comes from state and local governments. It provides federal grants for needy schools and programs, including money to pay teachers of children with special needs, fund arts programs and replace outdated infrastructure.
    It also oversees the $1.6 trillion in student loans held by tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford to pay for college outright.
    (Production: Jayla Whitfield-Anderson)
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