Under the Trump administration, the American education system could be about to become a battleground in an attempt to overturn progressive policies and reduce federal funding that supports low-income students.
However, experts agree that no one knows what is really going to happen; and it won’t be so easy for President Trump to make good on his campaign promises of cuts and other plans to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
It is anticipated that if he tries, he will encounter Democratic resistance and even some Republicans, fights in the courts and obstacles in Congress.
During the videoconference: What awaits education under Trump’s presidency?, organized by Ethnic Media Servicesthree experts spoke about what we can expect in the next four years in terms of education in the country.
Pedro Noguera, dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC), said that no one knows what we can expect from the Trump administration in terms of education, but the truth is that there will be a lot of resistance and conflict if they try move forward with their plans to dismantle the Department of Education.
“It will come from unlikely quarters as well as from other Republicans, both in Congress, the Senate, in the country and in rural areas.”
He said the U.S. Department of Education plays a critical role in providing resources to schools, particularly through Title One, which provides supplemental resources to schools serving poor children; and Pell Grants, which support low-income students to attend college.
“Both are very popular and essential programs, and while the administration has not said it wants to dismantle or destroy them, those who divest from the Department of Education could put them in jeopardy.”
He considered that much of what drives the administration at this time is the ideology that, above all, aims to start and maintain cultural wars.
So he said we’re going to see a lot of attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, and the rights of transgender students.
He highlighted that the country faces enormous challenges and educational gaps that were exacerbated during the pandemic, particularly in mathematics; and higher education is in great need of reform and change.
“Higher education is too expensive in this country and right now we are facing a situation where there will be a decrease in enrollment, which will affect universities across the country and also public schools, and that will produce a lot of changes that will lead many institutions to close basically because they do not have the necessary students to sustain themselves.”
Therefore, he said it is necessary to know whether or not the administration will play a role in supporting the necessary changes.
“I don’t think they clearly understand how the system works.”
Donations and private sector
Thomas Toch, director of Future Ed of Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, said there’s been talk that the administration is trying to tax donations, which is a little ironic because they’re essentially going after a relatively small number of educational institutions. higher, the elite, who are the ones who receive large donations.
“Most institutions, 5,000 or 6,000 institutions in total have very small or non-existent donations.”
He said the administration is likely to try again, as it did in the first Trump administration, to eliminate oversight and accountability for the for-profit higher education sector.
“As we know, Trump himself was in that business until he was forced out of it through a consent decree that made him pay millions of dollars to students for fraudulently marketing his university.”
He noted that the Obama administration implemented a series of regulatory changes to favor students in the for-profit higher education sector.
“President Trump, in his first administration, undid those protections. Biden put them back in place and we can expect to see them watered down again.”
He made the case that the problem of the FAFSA, the federal student aid application process, which the Biden administration has mismanaged, will ironically, given its commitment to increasing access to higher education, become an issue under the Trump administration. .
“The president-elect has been very critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the issue. “We will need to be vigilant because federal funding plays an important role in allowing students who have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education the opportunity to attend a four-year school.”
He noted that there will likely be pressure through the administration to reduce funding for the Pell Grant and federal work-study programs.
“Many Republicans have traditionally opposed those programs and have sought to reduce funding.”
He mentioned that it remains to be seen if there will be enough resistance from Democrats on the one hand, and from interested Republicans.
“The loan forgiveness initiatives that the Biden administration has initiated are going to end.; and the administration is likely to use the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Education to limit opportunities and protections to support transgender students.
Challenges in civil rights
Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) said that a 1982 United States Supreme Court decision gives every child the right to attend a free public school from kindergarten to grade 12, regardless of your immigration status.
“So this is not at imminent risk at all, and it also prevents raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or immigration officers in K-12 schools.”
He specified that even though the administration can eliminate a memorandum on safe places, it does not mean that they have the right to enter public schools, because they would violate the law.
Regarding DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), he said it is much more difficult to eliminate it, because it would involve carrying out a formal process to make a rule, and no announcement from Trump or the attorney general of the nation, can put an end to it.
“They would have to go through the rulemaking process of publishing their proposal in the Federal Register, seeking public comments for a reasonable period of time, taking the time to deal with all of those public comments.”
He argued that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights can threaten to withdraw federal funds, but it cannot do so unilaterally without going through an arduous legal process for those from whom it intends to eliminate resources.
“The courts remain a protection against hasty defunding for anyone engaging in progressive measures regarding education”.
He stated that there will be a daily barrage of exaggerated rhetoric against immigrants, diversity, inclusion and equity, civil rights and public education.
“It is true that the president will have control of the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, so they will do everything they can to pursue progressive initiatives in education and argue that They are a violation of white civil rights.”
He emphasized, however, that the president has limited authority outside the courts to do anything.