What might happen if Trump eliminates the Department of Education?

President-elect Donald Trump plans to significantly restructure the federal government and downsize several federal agencies, and there's one department he wants to completely eliminate: the Department of Education. But if this tall order is fulfilled, it could end up being more symbolic than functional.

What did the commentators say?

Trump "cannot eliminate the agency on his own," said The Washington Post. It would require congressional approval and a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate. "Politically, this would be difficult, if not impossible," with potential opposition from both parties.

But if he successfully shuttered the department, it would "surely have symbolic impact." Without it, a Cabinet member would no longer be "focused solely on education issues and empowered to speak to Americans about the challenges schools face."

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That would make it harder for the federal government to "elevate education issues or press for change in schools." Beyond that, the impact would largely depend on "how Congress restructured the work of the department."

If Trump were genuinely concerned about K-12 education, he would "make a bold move right now to help public schools," Jessica Grose said at The New York Times. While a small portion of public school funding comes from the federal government, the "problems we face are so large that they are crying out for a federal response that includes continued funding for things like high-dosage tutoring to ameliorate Covid learning loss."

His first term offers "scant evidence that he has the desire to do much more than wage painful culture-war battles." What Trump will likely do is "pick splashy fights that he can win through executive orders," said Grose. For instance, he will "reverse the transgender student protections put in place by an executive order from Biden this year." Though it's "pretty unclear how that would play out in practice," it' s "certainly chilling."

Trump also promised to "cut federal funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children" to "keep men out of women's sports" and "find and remove the radicals who have infiltrated the federal Department of Education."

But eliminating the agency is not the same as "eliminating the myriad programs that it runs, billions that it sends out, and multitudinous regulations that it enforces (mostly pursuant to laws enacted by Congress)," Chester Finn Jr., the president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said to the Washington Examiner.

The department is responsible for administering federal grant programs such as Title I, which provides supplemental funding to high-poverty K-12 schools, and the program that helps cover the cost of education for students with disabilities. It also oversees the federal student loan program and enforces civil rights laws that bar discrimination at school.

"Undoing those functions, programs, activities means dealing separately with the laws that created them — dozens and dozens," said Finn. If the agency is disbanded but its functions are not, it would be a "mostly symbolic act" akin to simply "taking the name off the door."

What next?

Trump has been swiftly tapping people for his Cabinet picks since his election, and with Trump's plans for eliminating the department looming, the "next education secretary could also be the last," said The Hill. Several names were floated as potential candidates, including Ryan Walters and Cade Brumley, the state superintendents of Oklahoma and Louisiana, respectively, and Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty.

Ultimately, Trump selected Linda McMahon to head the Department of Education. She's best known for building the professional wrestling company WWE alongside her husband. During Trump's first term, he tapped her to run the Small Business Administration.

Like many of his choices, McMahon's nomination was not well received by critics. Selecting her shows that Trump "could not care less about our students' futures," Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. "Our students and our nation deserve so much better than Betsy DeVos 2.0."