The Wall Street Journal first reported that the order could “shut down all functions of the agency that aren’t written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments,” citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Likewise, The Washington Post reported that the order wouldn’t directly abolish the agency but instead “directs the agency to begin to diminish itself,” citing three people who were briefed on the order. Other sources familiar with talks about the order told Inside Higher Ed as early as Friday that the order would at least direct the education Secretary to come up with a plan to break up the department...
Only Congress can get rid of the agency, so the executive order would mostly amount to a messaging tactic. But the Trump administration can take other steps to make the agency a shell of itself, from cutting staff to stopping some programs...
College and university stakeholders worry that abolishing the Education Department could be catastrophic for institutions and students. State higher education officials, university administrators, nonprofit advocacy groups and students depend on the Education Department to oversee federal student aid, manage the student loan portfolio, investigate civil rights complaints and allocate billions of dollars in institutional aid, among other operations. More than 4,000 people work for the agency, which has an $80 billion discretionary budget.
Several experts have said that any effort to break up the department would likely leave its programs in place. For example, lawmakers and conservative think tanks have proposed moving the department’s federal student aid programs, including the Pell Grant and management of student loans, to the Treasury Department, while the Office for Civil Rights would move to the Department of Justice...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/02/04/trumps-antisemitism-order-leaves-many-questions.
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