Trump wants to close the Department of Education. It’s much easier said than done.

WASHINGTON – During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised to “close” the U.S. Department of Education if he regains the White House.

“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, instead of maintaining a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, DC,” he said. said in October. “We want to close the federal Ministry of Education.”

But delivering on that promise is easier said than done. Dismantling the agency — which provides billions of dollars each year to low-income public schools and billions more to help millions of Americans pay for college — would likely require support from Democrats in Congress (who strongly oppose the idea to postpone).

And while many Republicans in Congress have reiterated his pledge, Trump does not have 100% support from the Republican side of the aisle. Some within the Republican Party have argued that the Department of Education would be better off left intact because it could play a crucial role in carrying out Trump’s policy agenda.

While it’s uncertain how much of Trump’s rhetoric could become reality, here are four key things to know about the small but mighty agency:

It ensures that primary and secondary schools comply with important federal laws

The logic underlying Trump’s promise to dismantle the Department of Education is that, as he has said, U.S. education policy needs to be devolved.back to the states.”

However, education in primary schools is already largely provided at the state and local level. Public schools are controlled primarily by school boards and receive most of their funding through allocations from state legislatures and local sources, usually in the form of property taxes.

Yet the federal government does provide about a tenth of public school funding – which is a small but significant portion of their budgets. To continue getting that money, schools must follow federal law.

That is one place where the Ministry of Education plays a role. The agency, which became a cabinet-level department in 1979 and has several thousand employees, is based in the nation’s capital (but has regional offices across the country). It writes regulations that help clarify and implement laws written by Congress.

To continue receiving federal funding, schools must comply with these laws, which, among other things, protect students and teachers from discrimination and ensure that students with disabilities are appropriately taught.

It oversees colleges and administers federal student aid

The Department of Education also oversees the nation’s colleges and universities, almost all of which receive federal funding.

Any student who has completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) should contact the Education Department, which administers the form. The federal Pell Grant, free money the government gives to low-income students to pay for college, is also overseen by the department, as is the nation’s nearly $2 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

In short, the agency plays a major role in ensuring that students in the US can afford a college degree. And a large part of the money in the treasury depends on whether schools can prove that they can offer students value for money.

Dismantling the agency would likely require support from Senate Democrats

Abolishing the department, as Trump and other newly elected Republicans in Congress have proposed, would require an act of Congress.

While the Republican Party will likely have a majority in Congress in both chambers, passing a bill to close the agency would mean bringing some Democrats on board. A 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation in the Senate would pose a major obstacle to Trump making good on his promise, experts say.

The controversial Conservative blueprint Project 2025 outlines how offices within the Department of Education could be split and transferred to other federal agencies. But it’s not clear whether Trump agrees with the details of that proposal, and he has rejected Project 2025 altogether. He himself has not drawn up a more detailed plan describing how he would close the department.

Michael Itzkowitz, who worked at the Education Department during the Obama administration, said he does not expect the agency to disappear during Trump’s second term in the White House.

“It’s more likely that they will try to roll back certain programs that they don’t agree with,” he said.

Many civil servants tend to keep their jobs regardless of the president

Regardless of whether the agency survives another four years, a sense of dread has already arisen among many employees about what Trump’s next term will bring. That fear is part of a larger malaise among service workers in the federal government, whose jobs could become more precarious if Trump implements the policies he has suggested would dismantle the so-called “deep state.”

Jared Bass, a senior vice president at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said he worries about an “exodus” of civil servants who typically continue to do their jobs regardless of who is president.

“They’re not trying to score political points for anyone,” he said. “The outright elimination of the Department of Education would require a machete, while we would need to use a scalpel, for some of the challenges facing our nation.”

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 things to know about Trump’s promise to close the Department of Education