EMMA FIGLEWICZ
PHOTO EDITOR
2/17/2025
Under President Donald Trump’s administration, significant changes are underway for the U.S. Department of Education which reflect his long-standing goal to reduce its influence and promote alternative educational policies.
While campaigning for his second term in office, Trump repeatedly mentioned how he sought to close the Department of Education.
“We want to move the Department of Education. We’re ranked at the bottom of the list. We spend more money per pupil than in any other country by far and yet we are at the bottom of the list. I’m going to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states,” said Trump on Sept. 23 at his rally in Reading, PA.
At the end of January, Trump began to release various executive orders that called for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling.
If the bill were to pass, Alma students receiving federal aid assistance may be affected.
According to the National Association for Music Education, “On Feb. 3, news of a potential executive order to dismantle the Department of Education began circulating around Washington, DC…timing on the release of this executive order is unknown.”
For the Department of Education to be abolished, it must go through a formal legislative process.
218 votes in the House of Representatives and 51 votes in the Senate would be needed for the bill to pass. After passing both chambers of Congress, the bill would need to be signed by the President to become law.
The Department of Education has been in operation since Oct. 17, 1979. The federal program was created to ensure equal access to education and to help provide federal funding and support to schools across the United States.
Programs such as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), Pell Grants, Title I funding, special education programs and research grants for public institutions are all in control of the Department of Education.
Many universities and colleges utilize these programs to help support students’ financial needs, enhance educational opportunities and improve resources for diverse and underserved populations.
Currently, Alma College hasn’t published any news about what would happen if the Department of Education closed and how it could affect financial aid.
Although higher education could be affected by the abolition of the Department of Education, the impact would likely be most significant at the K-12 level.
If the Department of Education were abolished, state and local governments would assume primary control over educational policies and funding.
The shift in responsibility to state and local governments would result in a patchwork approach to education. Policies and funding for various programs that the Department of Education was in charge of overseeing could vary widely depending on regional priorities.
Programs such as DEI, Title IX and special education may have their funding cut or abolished altogether depending on how each state views their importance for their educational system.
“I think DEI will remain the same in Michigan. We have a Democratic governor and are one of the more progressive states in the Union. However, there are many other states who do not value DEI in the same way we do,” said Justine Fox (’05), eighth-grade teacher at Donald L. Pavlik Middle School.
“We won’t know the direct impact of getting rid of the Department of Education for a while from now,” said Fox.
The Almanian: News 
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