Department of Ed Cuts are Real, and Black Students Will Feel It

Now that President Donald Trump’s employment cuts to the Department of Education are in, education experts and analysts are assessing the impact of dropping more than 1,300 jobs from a department responsible for things like providing funding for poorer schools and defending the rights of vulnerable students.

Their conclusion: Trump’s big hits to the DOE workforce will hurt Black K-12 students the hardest.

In one day, the White House gutted offices that Black and low-income students depend on the most, including the offices that handle civil rights protections for minority and disabled public school students and federal student loans for college as well as research and data collection on school equity.

RELATED: Trump’s DEI Ban and the Civil Rights of Black Students 

“Look at who is hurt by these cuts: 26 million kids from low-income families, 13 million kids who get financial aid for college, 7.5 million kids with disabilities. The list goes on and on,” Fedrick Ingram, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers tells Word In Black. “Trump has turned our children into cannon fodder in an unnecessary culture war that will have real-life consequences for millions.”

But Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the staff cuts “reflect the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”

The announcement late Tuesday that nearly half of the DOE’s workforce will be let go is another step towards Trump’s campaign to drastically reduce the size of government, eliminate government programs centered on diversity — and keep his campaign promise to eliminate the agency altogether. It follows similarly brutal cuts, buyouts, and layoffs across nearly all cabinet-level departments, including the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Treasury.

At the Education Department, employees were notified that their positions would be terminated in 90 days, according to senior agency officials. Those fired will begin teleworking starting Wednesday and go on paid administrative leave.

Weade James, senior director of K-12 education policy with Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, says the decision to fire a big chunk of DOE employees will disrupt much of the progress made for marginalized K-12 students. That includes the Institute of Education, Sciences, the department’s research arm, which experts say is instrumental in advancements around student outcomes in reading and math and advancing research on effective reading instruction.

“IES has four research centers that it operates, including research centers around special education [and]  education statistics,” James says. “These centers are really driving educational practices and policies by providing cutting-edge research for the field.”

Many of the centers that got axed have operated for a number of years with educator practitioners, teachers, and higher education leaders, using data and research to help formulate their own course of action. To them, the loss of this information is critical.

In addition to the Office of Civil Rights, which saw the biggest cuts, and IES,  about 300 or more staff were cut from the Federal Student Aid Office.

RELATED: What Shutting Down the Department of Education Means for Financial Aid Accessibility 

“This cut significantly impacts things like public student loan forgiveness programs, the level of technical assistance that students who are seeking federal financial aid can get, the type of technical assistance that university offices can get around loan forgiveness programs, and also financial aid for their students,” James says. “If you’re cutting federal student aid offices, you’re essentially making it more difficult for students who don’t have the means to afford a higher education, a post-secondary degree to be able to access federal financial aid.”

According to the Education Student Initiative, 66% of Black students use student loans to attend college. Moreover, Black student borrowers are more likely to struggle financially after graduation, with average student loan debt monthly payments of $258.

Get Involved with Your Local Board and Government 

Although Trump and McMahon have swung the first wrecking ball in destroying the DOE, James says there are still steps parents, students, and activists can take to try and stop him. The first step, she says, is to get involved.

“Attend your local school board meetings, and also local stakeholder meetings that are happening to learn about how this is going to affect your particular jurisdiction,” James says.

“Every district is different. Districts might be serving more students that are Title I eligible than others. Some districts might have certain programs that require a little bit more sort of engagement with the Department of Education, so I think it’s first understanding what is the direct impact and where I’m located.”

Attending these meetings can be an opportunity to directly question the leaders around your concerns on both local and federal level.

“Also, see if your governor has issued any statement about this,” James says, pointing to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Governors there have objected to the DOE cuts, arguing that reducing the department’s footprints can affect the amount of federal money states get for schools. James says governors may have a strategy to fight the cuts.

James says contact your lawmakers in Congress directly, too.

“Congress is definitely the agency that established the U.S. Department of Education, and only Congress can dismantle the U.S. Department of Education,” she says. “However, we’re saying that this administration is cutting the force of the department, which is weakening the department, so there might be an opportunity for your lawmaker in Congress to hear from you.”

Ingram, the AFT official, says that while the Department of Education has many functions, its core mission is to level the playing field for Black, brown, and poor children by filling the opportunity gaps to help every child in America succeed.

“From bias testing to school funding, Black students have had the chips stacked against them for decades,” he says. “Gutting the department that helped them is not just cruel, it is directly in line with Trump’s overall effort to erase any gains made by Black folks, women, the LGBTQ community, and anyone else he seems to dislike.”

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