Thursday, March 06, 2025

Cheering Up, Because It Will Only Get Worse. But It Won't Get THAT Bad. (Well, Not Entirely)

 Was Trump going to sign the EO to abolish the DOE?

No.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt quoted a news report saying it was "fake news" that Trump was expected to sign the order on Thursday. She said he is not signing it.

WSJ had this.  ABCNews had this.  And nobody's screaming about leaks.

Behind the scenes, there was concern among top administration officials about the blowback the order would receive and the lack of messaging in place ahead of the rollout.

Specifically, how the administration would answer questions about how the executive order would impact the school lunch program along with other programs that could no longer exist. 

Tip o' the fuckin' iceberg.  Or the spear, depending on your perspective.  And where the spear was aimed.  But that requires answering the next question:  could an EO end a government department?

No. 

The DOE was established by act of Congress in 1979.  The Department of Education Organization Act (DOEA), to be specific.  It took the "E" out of "HEW" and made it a separate department with Cabinet level secretary.  President Trump wants to know what it does?

The Department now receives over $268 billion in annual appropriations from Congress, with      funding levels specified for the department’s specific programs. Since its creation, the department has played a critical role in administering programs and services that ensure all children can succeed–keeping schools open and afterschool programs available, ensuring children with disabilities have access to education, standing up for kids being harassed or bullied, and helping families pay for college and career training.

Let's start with Title I funding and the role of the DOE:

Section 204 of the Department of Education Organization Act (DEOA) created the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). OESE’s is tasked by Congress with administering Title I-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which provides supplemental funding to low-income school districts. The amount each school district gets depends primarily on local poverty estimates updated annually by the Census Bureau. The Education Department uses four different funding formulas required by law to distribute this money, and annual appropriations bills specify the portions to be allocated to states and LEAs under each formula.

I want to emphasize all of that is done by statute.  Not by vague handwaving directions to the Administration to spend Title I money in accordance with the President's agenda.  Congress allocates, the Administration...administrates.  It's what we mean when we say "It's the law."  The amount allocated may change from year to year.  The method of allocation doesn't.  Per the DOEA, that is done by:  the DOE.  Trump can't change that by Presidential fiat because without the DOE, that money can't be distributed as required by federal law.  Federal law that is, in some ways, about 46 years old now.

There are reports Trump wants to move Title I funding to the states in block grants.  Can he do this?  No.

 Section 301(2) of DEOA authorizes the Secretary of the Education Department to administer the ESEA, including Title I-A. Changing the agency responsible for administering Title I-A would require legislative changes. An EO that purports to abolish OESE or to shift Title I-A funding to HHS exceeds the legal authority of the president and usurps Congress’s authority.

He wants to make that transfer to the states with "no strings attached."  Again, federal law says:  "Nope."

Title I-A grants can be used for a broad array of programs to improve education quality and help ensure that all children meet state academic standards, preserving state and local authority over education. The ESSA, the most recent major legislative change to K-12 funding, rolled back much of the federal government’s role in education policy and gave new leeway to the states. This means that the “strings attached” the Trump administration seeks to eliminate are basic mechanisms for accountability and transparency for parents and communities, such as requiring states to measure performance in reading, math, and science, to publish a “State Report Card” online, to publish “per pupil expenditures,” and to provide comprehensive support and improvement to their lowest performing 5 percent of schools.

I think it's the "transparency" Trump objects to. 

Predating the DOE is IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  The funding for that act is, by act of Congress, administered by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the DOE.

In FY 2024, OSERS distributed over $15 billion in grants to support states, local education authorities, and schools in meeting their obligations to students with disabilities under the IDEA. OSERS monitors and supports states’ implementation of IDEA, including by providing written guidance to parents, educators, and state educational agencies.

I'm sure Elmo and DOGE think that's "waste, fraud, and abuse." 

Congress also established the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within DOE "to protect the rights of students and, when necessary, enforce civil rights in schools. OCR is one of the largest civil rights enforcement agencies in the U.S."  Which, to Trump, means only one thing:  DEI. Again, he can't do anything about it.  Only Congress can.  Can he eliminate the employees of OCR?  No, because it has to function, per Congressional authorization. The Higher Education Act of 1965 established most of the student aid program still helping students pay for college.  In 1998 Congress created the office of Federal Student Aid, and put it in the DOE to operate in the way established by law, with policy set by, and oversight provided by, the SOE.  The current SOE cannot dissolve the FSA, or write it out of existence by eliminating its policy provisions. The mandate to oversee is not the power to destroy.

So what can happen?  More chaos; more damage, needlessly inflicted by a man child who doesn't understand what he's doing.

What can you expect except chaos?

Well, it's Lent; it's the season of penance.  Forgive us, Lord, for we did not want to know what we were doing.  And we did it anyway.....
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