The Disruptions to Education
As the Chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, I am watching very closely how the firing of over 1300 US Department of Education (DOE) employees – nearly half of the entire agency’s workforce – will disrupt public and higher education all throughout the country and here in Virginia.
The closure of the DOE will cause significant disruptions because the agency plays such a crucial role in shaping education policy, administering funding, and ensuring compliance with federal standards.
The DOE distributes billions of dollars in federal funding to states, school districts, and educational programs. The closure of the DOE will lead to budget shortfalls at the local and state levels. Without federal support, many schools, especially those in rural and underresourced areas, will face severe shortages.
Additionally, the DOE establishes guidelines for standardized testing (e.g., SAT, ACT, state assessments). Without the DOE and without a centralized system, we will see a patchwork of testing requirements across states that will undermine efforts to ensure full and proper assessments of student learning.
Significantly for families of special needs students, the DOE ensures that schools comply with federal laws regarding special education services, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Enforcement of these protections will be weakened without DOE protections and will leave students with disabilities vulnerable to reduced services, accommodations, or even possible exclusion from educational opportunities.
Critical civil rights protections are intertwined with protections for children with special needs. The DOE is responsible for enforcing the civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on race, gender, disability, and other factors. Of all the divisions of the DOE that have been hit the hardest by the first round of firing, the Office of Civil Rights has lost a significant majority of its employees.
Other massive and potential impacts loom ahead including loss of teacher training and development, and increased disparities of education opportunities among wealthy and less wealthy states.
In higher education, the impacts will also be felt as the DOE oversees programs such as federal student loans and Pell Grants. DOE closures will likely eliminate these programs making access to higher education out of reach of millions of students. The loss of federal funding will also dramatically impact institutions of higher learning, most especially our community colleges, which provide access and opportunity to jobs and essential workforce development.
It is not yet clear the directions we will see the Trump administration move over the next several weeks, but these trends are clearly concerning, to say the least. In Virginia news, our own Virginia Department of Education is facing a significant degree of uncertainty itself in the waning days of the Youngkin administration. On Friday, the Superintendent of Education, Dr. Lisa Coons, announced her resignation. My hope is that we have solid and effective leadership at the VDOE over the next few months as the federal division moves into this period of potential chaos and massive disruption.
