Thursday marks the signing of an executive order by President Donald Trump ordering the closure of the U.S. Education Department, so completing a campaign promise to eradicate the department, long a conservative target.
Reports indicate that under the order, federal student loan payments, federal assistance for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Title I money for low-income schools will remain the same.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, however, is creating a strategy to “bring these funds closer to states, localities, and more importantly, students,” a White House official informed USA Today.
Some type of student loan debt affects around 43 million Americans. According to the Education Department, Americans owe collectively $1.5 trillion in student debt all around.
Trump has been working to destroy the department in recent weeks; if the department is shuttered, student loan programs could be transferred to another agency. As the department restructure, over half of the Education Department employees are being let go.
President Donald Trump has attacked the Department of Education for liberal ideology’s influence and wastefulness. Completely destroying the agency, however, would call for Congress’s action—that which launched the department in 1979.
According to a White House fact sheet, Trump’s executive order will direct McMahon to “take all necessary steps” to close the agency and reallocate education authority to the states, while guaranteeing that important programs and benefits continue unabated.
Apart from overseeing a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, the Department of Education grants billions of dollars yearly to educational institutions.
The agency covers everything from school meals to support for homeless kids, most of which involves financial monitoring including student loans and other aid programs for colleges and school districts. It also is quite important for the execution of civil rights in the context of education.
Although federal funding makes about 14 percent of public school budgets, it is vital for extra programs helping underprivileged children including Title I financing for low-income schools and the McKinney-Vento program for homeless students.
But colleges and universities rely more on federal funds; they rely on research grants and student financial aid to help pay for tuition.
Among reforms to the Education Department, some student loan borrowers have lately seen their payments explode.
Trump has changed the income-driven federal student loan repayment policies of the department, so some borrowers find their monthly payments to vary from $500 to $5,000.
Trump warned earlier this month that should Congress ever completely dismantle the Education Department, the student loan portfolio will be relocated.