Statement from Education Law Center Executive Director Robert Kim on Executive Order Dismantling U.S. Department of Education

The Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle and eliminate the U.S. Department of Education is not only unlawful but profoundly misguided, threatening to compromise our nation’s ability to ensure high-quality and non-discriminatory education for millions of students:

• Why unlawful? The existence and future of the Department is controlled by Congress, not the White House. The President’s executive order exceeds his legal authority.

• Why misguided? The executive order reveals utter disregard for the Department’s core functions, which are to provide funding for vulnerable student populations across the country, support states’ and school districts’ efforts to provide educational access and opportunity for students, and ensure that states and districts comply with key federal laws including those that protect civil rights.

Decimating, moving or eliminating core Department programs, such as IDEA funding and enforcement for students with disabilities, and Title I resources for districts serving high numbers of students from limited income families, would be catastrophic for students, schools and communities across the country. Our most vulnerable students would lose opportunities for an inclusive, high-quality education, as well as protections to ensure they can access those opportunities.

We know the majority of Americans do not want to see the nation’s public education system thrown into chaos, strangling educational opportunities for the vast majority of American children who are educated in public schools. We demand that the Department be protected to support and raise up American schoolchildren. We intend to pursue every avenue available to us to ensure the future of the Department and that of the nation’s schoolchildren.

Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Director of Policy, Strategic Partnerships and Communications
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x240