President Donald Trump is preparing to gut the U.S. Education Department to the full extent of his power, directing his administration to slash spending while pressuring employees to quit. Yet his promise to close the department is colliding with another reality: Most of its spending — and its very existence — is ordered by Congress.
Former Minnesota Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News she wishes the message from the Trump Administration, and the president himself, would be a little more clear.
"We should not hide behind words," Ricker said. "We should actually say, 'we no longer want students from working class families to get Pell Grants. We no longer want students with special needs to get additional supports in their schools.' You should just say what is going to happen and own it."
Minnesota currently receives $1 billion from the Department of Education for Pell Grants and Special Education needs. A Federal Pell Grant is a grant that helps low-income undergraduate students pay for college. It's the largest federal grant program for undergraduates.
That money shows up in school districts and communities in a variety of other ways as well, including Title 1 funding which helps support students who live in poverty while going to school.
Ricker explained why Title 1 is so important.
"That Title One funding can be used for better support in the classroom," she says. "It can be used for better school, community, home, liaison programs. It can be used for a variety of things that just make school a more supportive place for students who may have some additional needs."
At a White House press conference Tuesday, Trump quipped about the first task for Linda McMahon, his nominee for education secretary.
“I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump said.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to close the department, saying it has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” In the nearly five decades since the agency was created, conservatives have made occasional attempts to shut it down, with critics saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into local education decisions.
Trump is expected to give his education chief a deadline to deliver a plan for the agency’s winddown. Yet even some of his allies question how far he can go without Congress. Some of the department’s most significant programs are required by federal legislation, including that Title I money.