As Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of Education, sits for a Senate confirmation hearing today, it's important to remember that Trump is reportedly considering signing an executive order that seeks to eliminate the Department of Education. Needless to say, a president cannot unilaterally eliminate a governmental agency without an act of Congress. And undoing the Department of Education will almost certainly be challenged in the courts the way that many of Trump's other policy initiatives are being challenged. According to the Department of Education, its elementary and secondary programs serve more than 50 million students in about 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools. The department notes that its "grant, loan, and work-study" programs help "more than 12 million postsecondary students." The department is also a specifically irreplaceable lifeline for students with disabilities. So Trump's desire to dismantle the department — along with his picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services — rightly has the parents of disabled students alarmed. This is a preview of tk's latest article. Read the full column here. |
