Trump signs order to wind down Department of Education

I have been very critical of Trump regarding his executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.

Well, I may have gotten this one wrong because it appears that Trump’s order may have found a loophole.

The Order

On Thursday, the much-anticipated order was finally revealed and signed, and from what I have seen, it does not outright end the Department of Education.

Instead, the order gives Secretary McMahon the mandate to streamline the department to its bare essentials while implementing a plan to allocate program funds directly to the states. This is why this order may be challenged, and it will be, once it is implemented.

By not fully closing the department, Trump is possibly finding a loophole that will allow him to strip this down, then toss it over to Congress to end the department once they see the plan is effective.

Regardless, Democrats are likely to fight this, but I like the idea of this approach, and I really am hoping that Trump is successful by doing it this way.

Back to the States

When Trump announced the order, he broke the ice on the idea of not ending funding but redirecting it to the states instead of the DoE being the middleman here.

Trump stated, “We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states, where it belongs.”

The president later added, “This is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a common sense thing to do, and it’s going to work.”

Trump’s order also stressed this, stating, “Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.”

Trump Explains Absorption of DoE

My biggest criticism of Trump regarding this particular order is that he is not being transparent enough with his plan, but he has just offered a glimpse into his thinking on that front.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week, “I’ve decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration headed by Kelly Loeffler, terrific person, will handle all of the student loan portfolio.”

He then stated that “[funding for] special needs [students] and all the nutrition programs and everything else” will now fall under the Health and Human Services Department.

This is better, but I still want to see more information from Trump on this front. Let’s get a full plan out in the media to show the American people what this administration has in mind. I know if they see it, they will likely approve of it, which will only generate more pressure on Democrats to get behind this bill and get something passed in Congress to permanently end the DoE.