Californians Together, once again, strongly condemns unilateral efforts to eliminate federal oversight of education in the United States. Yesterday’s executive order does not return power to local districts—it creates unnecessary confusion and puts students at risk. Education policy has always been the responsibility of the states. Similarly, local school boards have always been in a position to be responsive to local needs. For the last forty-five years, the United States Department of Education has been responsible for providing critically important oversight—primarily in the form of civil rights enforcement.
While the role of the federal government in education has always been limited, it is crucial for ensuring that all students can access a quality education. The department enforces the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, a law that ensures that our nation’s nearly 8 million students with disabilities receive the accommodations they need in the classroom. For decades, the department has managed the Civil Rights Data Collection, a powerful tool that leverages data to understand whether all students are receiving the education they are entitled to by law.
Abolishing the U.S. Department of Education removes these guardrails and leaves our most vulnerable students, including immigrants and multilingual learners, at risk. Recent actions to dramatically shrink the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) mean that we may no longer be able to answer basic questions about whether districts are meeting student needs. IES is under a statutory obligation to Congress to report statistics regularly—but over the last few months, its headcount has been reduced to three employees from 175 at the start of the current administration. Other offices within the department ensure that all student groups can access the opportunities available to their peers. The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), for instance, distributes grants and guidance to states, districts, and community-based organizations to ensure that programs meet the needs of more than five million English learners. Defunding OELA, and similar entities, leaves education agencies and entire communities in the dark.
Massive layoffs are meant to send a message that our leaders are prioritizing efficiency over the status quo, but these recent executive actions are leaving administrators, teachers, families, and students with more questions than answers. One of the most common questions we hear from our friends in the field is simply, “can the president eliminate the U.S. Department of Education?” The answer is no. President Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon have both acknowledged that actually eliminating the department would require an act of Congress. Many of the nation’s leading policy and advocacy organizations, including those representing teachers, are lined up to fight these recent developments in courts. Many more are calling on their communities to contact their senators to vote “no” on eliminating the department.
While it is unlikely that the U.S. Department of Education will be fully dissolved, it is clear that there is a movement to render it powerless to enforce civil rights protections. It is more important than ever for state agencies, and advocacy organizations, to act as a watchdog for students. Californians Together is determined to increase our efforts to ensure that multilingual learners in our state, and beyond, have the support they need to thrive in the classroom.