What would scrapping Education Department mean for families in region?
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Department of Education has a new leader, Linda McMahon, and President Donald Trump appears to be moving forward with his campaign promise to dismantle that department.
Experts say that while specifics of what this could mean remain unclear, there would be implications for South Carolina families.
Fully doing away with the Department of Education would require an act of Congress.
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Derek Black, a University of South Carolina professor who specializes in education law, said that the majority of the decisions made about schooling in the Palmetto State, like curriculum, teacher pay and certification, happen at the state level.
“You hear a lot of talk about somehow or another the Department of Education is a modern invention, or that the federal role in education is a modern invention, and neither of those is true,” he said in a Thursday interview.
Black said that since the Civil War, Congress has played an expansionary role in providing public education for all of the nation’s children.
One key component of the federal Department of Education as it is known today is financial. That includes student loans, Title I funding for low-income families and special education funding.
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Much of that money has regulations and strings attached.
Another big piece has to do with civil rights enforcement and discrimination in schools.
The leader of the South Carolina Education Association, Sherry East, worries whether states could handle additional responsibilities.
“Have you met with state superintendents?” she said. “Do we have the infrastructure in place to handle all of what’s going on in DC? And I would say no, not yet. I mean I’m not saying that we would or wouldn’t, but you can’t expect things just to turn around in a three or four month period.”
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Some parents wonder what is going to come of some of those federal programs if Trump were to succeed with these plans.
“What is his plan for replacement there?” Evans Bunch said. “That’s the big question. Don’t just take it away from us without giving us something to work with on those same programs, which are important.”
Beveisha Youmans, who has a young son, believes that “everyone will be connected to someone who is affected” by this move.
2022-2023 figures from the South Carolina Department of Education show that only about 14 percent of the $13.59 billion that flows through the department comes from the federal government.
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Even still, proponents of this push say that dismantling federal bureaucracy and returning those spending decisions to the states would go a long way toward addressing some systemic problems in education.
The South Carolina Education Association, which is one of the state’s leading teacher advocacy groups, said the elimination of the department would be “reckless.”
“All of this would give you pause,” East said. “Like OK, this is a career that’s all of a sudden unstable at this point, where usually a teaching career, it’s a fairly stable environment. But right now, it’s not feeling that way.”
State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver was not available for an interview Thursday on this topic.
She did co-write a memo in January to McMahon, the now-Education Secretary, with 11 other states, asking for more control over federal fundson .
The draft order from the Trump istration reportedly directs McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the education department.”
Some congressional Democrats and Republicans expressed skepticism about the possible executive order on Thursday.
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