Dismantling the Department of Education: Wasteful, Wrong, and Illegal

WASHINGTON, DC—In response to forthcoming plans from the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education and move multiple offices to other federal departments, Kevin Carey, the vice president of Education and Work programs at New America, issued the following statement.

The Trump administration’s latest attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is lawless, wasteful, and bad for students.

This deeply unpopular administration lacks the votes in Congress to shut down ED. That’s why Secretary McMahon is creating a bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine that will waste millions of taxpayer dollars by outsourcing vital programs to other agencies. It’s like paying a contractor double to mow your lawn and then claiming you’ve cut the home maintenance budget. It makes no sense.

The American people overwhelmingly oppose shutting down ED. Congress won’t allow it. Nobody wants this, other than a few Heritage Foundation zealots who hate public schools.

The Department of Education was created to give all students a fair chance for opportunity. Everything about the Trump-McMahon agenda moves America in the opposite direction—less money for high-poverty schools, fewer protections for students with disabilities, diminished access to college.

This action is illegal, inefficient, and wrong. If Secretary McMahon doesn’t believe she can do her job, she and her senior staff should return their paychecks and immediately resign.

For more on New America's growing collection of posts and statements on defending the Department of Education, see here.

Media contact: Katherine Portnoy

About New America: We are dedicated to renewing the promise of America, bringing us closer to our nation’s highest ideals. We’re a different kind of think tank: one dedicated to public problem-solving. Our team of visionary researchers, changemakers, technologists, and storytellers study and seize the opportunities presented by dramatic social and technological change. We search for powerful ideas, wherever they are, and collaborate with civic innovators around the country to develop evidence-based solutions.

About Education & Work: Public education is a pillar of American prosperity and civic life. From birth to school, college, and work, everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. But for too many students, education is inadequate, underfunded, and disconnected from good jobs. New America’s Education & Work issue area is dedicated to providing the best of education to everyone, especially the historically marginalized, starting in the earliest years and continuing throughout their lives.