President Donald Trump is growing closer to fulfilling his vision of effectively eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, signing an executive order Thursday that could have significant consequences for Georgia’s schools and students.
Although dissolving the agency requires a vote from Congress, Thursday’s order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
Missing from the order — issued a week after the department announced it would lay off nearly half its staff — are specifics about how, and if, the department will continue to deliver services many students depend on.
Those services include distributing Pell Grants, loans and other student aid for colleges and universities. The department enforces civil rights protections, distributes money for special needs programs and provides what is known as Title I funds to K-12 schools in high poverty areas. It collects data educators rely on, measuring how schools and students across the country are performing.
Minutes before signing the order, Trump said that Title I funding, Pell Grants and resources for children with disabilities will be “preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.” He did not detail which programs would be assigned to which agencies and neither does the order. But earlier in the day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said student loans, Pell Grants, civil rights investigations, Title I funding and special education resources would continue to be run by the department.
In Georgia alone, the department is expected to contribute more than $2.2 billion to public schools for the upcoming fiscal year, according to state budget documents. The University System of Georgia, which oversees the state’s public colleges, received at least $3.6 billion in federal funding during the 2024 fiscal year, according to an audit.
Created during then-President Jimmy Carter’s administration, some Republicans have disparaged the department for decades. Its elimination was championed in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for overhauling the federal government, which Trump tried to distance himself from during his 2024 campaign.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“Since 1979, the U.S. Department of Education has spent over $3 trillion with virtually nothing to show for it,” the White House said in a Thursday news release preceding the executive order. “Instead of maintaining the status quo that is failing American students, the Trump Administration’s bold plan will return education where it belongs — with individual states, which are best positioned to administer effective programs and services that benefit their own unique populations and needs.”
Its closure, according to the order, would provide families “the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” and “drastically improve program implementation in higher education.” The order points to recent data showing the majority of eighth graders are below proficiency in reading and math, adding, “The Federal education bureaucracy is not working.”
Scalpel, not a butcher’s knife needed
A former assistant superintendent at Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia’s largest school district, Babak Mostaghimi agrees that American learning systems are not performing at their best. But dismantling the department, he says, is akin to cutting off one’s legs, removing a speedometer from a car or taking apart the engine of a plane mid-flight. “The approach to improvement comes about by using a scalpel, not a butcher’s knife,” he said.
The student performance data the order cites is from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, it is a congressionally mandated program conducted by the Department of Education. It is not clear if the department will continue to do so. That worries Mostaghimi and educators who have relied on the data for decades.
“Good decisions require that reliable, long-term information,” he said. “That’s not only going to be problematic for schools, but also for parents trying to figure out, like, ‘Hey, is the school system in Georgia doing well?’”
Uncertainty about what the order will mean puts superintendents in a difficult position. It’s the middle of budget season, and Mostaghimi said many are having to plan for multiple scenarios. What if federal funding is delayed? Or does not come through at all? How will localities supplement school safety funds, provide for students with disabilities or deliver any of the other services the department administers?
Concerns for smaller and rural schools
Poor and rural parts of Georgia could be especially at risk. State data show that rural Clay County, for instance, receives 31% of its budget from federal sources, versus just 3% in metro Atlanta’s Forsyth County.
Staci Fox thinks officially dissolving the department, which would require a vote from Congress, is a long shot. The president of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute notes that there are not enough Republicans in the U.S. Senate to meet the necessary 60-vote threshold.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
But that does not mean current and prospective college students won’t be affected by the ongoing dismantling. The order notes that the department currently manages more than $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. While Leavitt said loan programs would continue to be administered by the department, the order says the department “is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.”
If another agency takes over the debt, students might be late on their payments as they learn to navigate a new system. Fox said that would increase debt for a state that already has the highest student loan debt per borrower in the South. Beyond that, Fox said low-income students often attend smaller universities, and university funding in Georgia is tied to enrollment. If federal aid becomes harder to access, fewer low-income students will attend college, and as enrollment drops at smaller schools, so too will their state funding.
“I worry really about some of these smaller schools around the state losing enrollment,” Fox said. “Are we unraveling access to higher education?”
The view from the Gold Dome
Meanwhile, Georgia Republican lawmakers have taken steps to ensure the state doesn’t face a cliff of sorts should the department shut down. Senate Bill 154, sponsored by Cornelia Republican Sen. Bo Hatchett, aims to ensure licensed professionals could keep working.
In order to become a licensed professional in the state of Georgia, you have to graduate or complete a certain school that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, Hatchett noted.
The bill would shift the licensing responsibility to the state. Hatchett said it includes 25 professions that require licensure, including peace officers, social workers, marriage and family therapist and dental hygienists. The measure has passed the state Senate and has been approved by a House committee, but has not yet received a vote in the full House of Representatives.
A number of Republican governors attended Thursday’s signing. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was not among them, but expressed his support for the move on social media. “In Georgia, we’ve empowered parents, supported our teachers, and put students first,” he wrote, adding that the executive order “puts education back where it belongs: with the states.”
Staff writer Martha Dalton contributed to this report.
Questions abound
President Donald Trump’s executive order answered some questions about the future of the U.S. Department of Education, but left several others unanswered. Here are some big picture questions.
- What immediate impact will this have on services? The executive order says the department will continue “uninterrupted delivery of services.” However, that could be difficult after the recent decision to cut half its workforce. The order says the department will attempt to terminate any diversity, equity and inclusion programs and those promoting gender ideology. The administration has swiftly attempted to eliminate funding for such programs since Trump’s return to the White House.
- What’s going to happen with student loans? White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Pell grants and loans will still be administered by the department. Trump did not address student loans in his Thursday news conference, and the order says the responsibility should be given to “an entity equipped to serve America’s students.”
- What impact will this have on programs for students with disabilities? Leavitt said the education department would continue oversight of the program which helps pay the cost of educating students with disabilities. Trump said special needs resources were among those that would be “preserved in full” and “redistributed to various other agencies and departments.”
What they’re saying
Here’s some reaction from education organizations and policy experts about the executive order. Some of the responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation: “Imparting education with Cabinet-level agency status has not led to education excellence. Since the Department’s creation in 1980, inflation-adjusted federal education spending has more than doubled, yet student learning outcomes have remained flat, achievement gaps have persisted, and college prices have soared.”
American Association of State Colleges and Universities President Charles L. Welch: “(W)e fundamentally disagree with the executive order. The administration should encourage Education Secretary Linda McMahon to work with key stakeholders in a nonpartisan approach to implement policies and strategies that further improve the nation’s elementary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions, not weaken them.”
Center for Education Reform: “Just as SpaceX transformed space travel when bureaucratic constraints were lifted, education can now be revolutionized by empowering those closest to students: parents and educators.
“This Executive Order is not just a policy shift — it’s an opportunity to innovate and pursue policies that are both proven and as yet unknown but hold the potential to reshape education for generations to come.”
Asian Americans Advancing Justice: “The eradication of the Department of Education is a disgrace … This is especially concerning for students of low-income and marginalized backgrounds, including 2.7 million Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students who are often overlooked and discriminated against.
“The President’s attacks against public education do not serve anyone but the privileged few. It is an attempt to divide the country and suppress ideas he dislikes.”
Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities President Mark Becker (He is the immediate past president of Georgia State University): “APLU welcomes the opportunity to work with Secretary McMahon and Congress on finding the right balance to ensure the U.S. Department of Education is a positive force for students, families, educators, institutions, and the nation. Refocusing the department on its core mission is necessary, but an overcorrection would harm the national interest.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten: “See you in court.”
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