Union leaders and education advocates warn that Trump’s executive order could hinder discrimination investigations, affect student loans, and put support services at risk.
By Alexandra Martinez, Prism
President Donald Trump’s announcement to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has sparked alarm among educators, with experts and union leaders raising concerns over the potential long-term effects on civil rights protections and vital student support services.
The executive order, which Trump signed Thursday afternoon, directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the agency and shift control of education back to the states. The order comes after the DOE announced earlier this month that about half of its workforce would be laid off.
In an emailed statement, Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,800 DOE workers, expressed concern for the impacts the move will have on civil servants and students across the country.
“This executive order is nothing more than an illegal overreach of executive power designed to unemploy dedicated civil servants and decimate the critical services they provide to millions of Americans across this country,” wrote Smith. “The Administration clearly has no respect for the thousands of people who have dedicated their careers to serving this country. Now Americans throughout the country will bear the brunt of this reckless order.”
As the DOE is threatened, organizers argue that the cuts will disproportionately harm students, especially those with disabilities and those requiring specialized services.
Maha Ibrahim, a senior attorney at gender justice nonprofit Equal Rights Advocates, warned of a dangerous shift toward a resegregated and unequal educational system that could disproportionately harm vulnerable students, especially those from communities of color, students with disabilities, women, and LGBTQIA+ youth.
“This resegregation […] is turning education into a commodity for the rich, stripping students of their civil rights,” Ibrahim said in an interview. “And it’s despicable. It’s despicable that we’re attempting to dismantle 50 years of hard-won progress and creating an environment where certain students are actually hunted down, are targeted, are pursued relentlessly, harassed relentlessly, and excluded relentlessly.”
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