The Florida Education Association (FEA) responded to Pres. Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Dept. of Education, calling the move a “political game” that will affect hundreds of thousands of students.
Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.
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Republicans said they will introduce a bill to achieve that.
The department, however, is not set to close completely. The White House said the department will retain certain critical functions.
Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its “core necessities,” preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell grants and money for children with disabilities.
Read the FEA’s response below:
Public schools and the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE) exist because every child, in every state and neighborhood, has the right to a world-class public education that inspires them and allows them to grow and succeed.
But today, political games have trumped the needs of our most vulnerable students with an executive order that seeks to redistribute critical programs to other agencies and departments, while dismantling the remainder of the U.S. DOE.
We need a federal agency to ensure that students who are supported with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), students experiencing homelessness, students living in rural areas, adults needing access to higher education opportunities, and so many more can continue to succeed. As someone with Dyslexia and who had an IEP that helped me succeed in school and in life, I worry greatly about so many of our students, including my own daughters.
Quite frankly, it’s shocking to see our Governor celebrate an overreaching executive order, particularly when in Florida, students are feeling the weight of a critical teacher and staff shortage and underfunded schools. Reading and math scores are down, SAT scores remain on a downward trajectory, the average teacher salary places our teachers in the bottom of the nation in pay, our voucher system is siphoning billions away from public education, corporate-run charter schools are placing profits over the needs to students, and it’s getting harder to retain our educators because of bad policies that place our students last. At the end of the day, saying the state is going to take care of it isn’t enough.
Our constitution has a duty to provide a world-class, free public education to every child in our state, regardless of race or place. If education is that important to us and the politicians in our state, why would we dilute the source with which we can ensure a high-quality public education?
Only an act of Congress can fully remove the US Department of Education, and today we call on Congressional leaders to stand with our students once and for all. We cannot allow any child to fall victim to shortsighted efforts that will impact our nation for generations to come.”
Florida Education Association