Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 21, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities” designed to eventually eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.
The order will not immediately close the department — that requires an act of Congress — but will make it “much smaller,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Leavitt said the order directs the U.S. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to “greatly minimize the agency.” Before signing the order, Trump said he hopes Democratic members of Congress will vote for the dismissal of the department.
The U.S. Conference of Bishops (USCCB) responded to the new order stating that it “does not take a position on the institutional structure of government agencies,” but “the Catholic Church teaches that parents are the primary educators of their children and should have the freedom and resources to choose an educational setting best suited for their child.”
“The conference supports public policies that affirm this, and we support the positive working relationships that the dioceses, parishes, and independent schools have with their local public school system partners.”
“As this executive order is implemented, it is important to ensure that students of all backgrounds in both public and nonpublic schools, especially those with disabilities or from low-income backgrounds, will continue to receive the resources they need,” the statement concluded.
While private schools do not receive federal funds, they often work with the Department of Education to receive benefits from the department’s taxpayer-funded programs. The department does not give directly to private institutions but rather to programs the schools may utilize to support their students.
Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow for the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told CNA that the new order should not have an impact on Catholic schools and will not prevent students in public or private schools from receiving the resources they need. He said “the president has said in his executive order that all of the essential services … will continue.”
The department’s two biggest programs for K–12 education are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Title I program.
Butcher, a supporter of the order, said: “The president has committed to keeping programs for children in disadvantaged backgrounds or disadvantaged areas.”
Butcher said he believes the executive order will not influence students in public or private schools in their day-to-day lives.
“The Department of Education’s role is to move money from the treasury to state departments of education and local districts, handle federal loans, and enforce federal law,” he said. “They don’t operate any schools and they don’t teach in any classrooms.”
While the administration has received support for this decision, some critics say it will cause “challenges.” President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten told Newsweek that a “gutted department would mean fewer teachers, more crowded classrooms, and increased mental health and behavioral challenges for students.”
Advocacy groups for special needs students have also expressed concern, including Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc, which states it “protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”
In a press release following the executive order, Neas said: “Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education is more than a policy shift — it will reverse five decades of progress for students with disabilities.”
“Children with disabilities who do not receive appropriate education services will face greater isolation, unemployment, and poverty,” she said.
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It’s always about money for the USCCB. Money, money, money.
In fact, America fails abysmally when it comes to educational outcomes compared to other developed nations. The president wants parents to have maximal control over their child’s education – NOT SOME FEDERAL BUREAUCRATS! The president has handed student loans over to the SBA to manage and for school nutritional programs to HHS. What the President wants done with education is return it to the control of States and local school boards and parents. But, what does the Catholic hierarchy want? MONEY!
The USCCB needs DOGE ….DESPERATELY!
These criticisms of the bishops’statement seem a bit overwrought.
Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers would be a more appropriate recipient of censure, IMO.
The USCCB “does not take a position on the institutional structure of government agencies”. But they HAD to make a statement anyway, didn’t they? This is how you take a position without admitting it.
The schools in the U.S. should be under the control of local leaders in the same towns and cities as the schools.
Even though all the states are united under the Stars and Stripes–the UNITED States of America–the states are all very different and have different ways that they do school, often based on their geography.
When my lifelong best friend and I took the Route 66 trip out West (we plan to do the Eastern half in the future), we drove through Colorado–not the cities, but the backcountry. We would drive for 50 miles without seeing any towns, not even a Dollar General! We did see farm buildings and very small houses, but they were literally miles apart. We did see a cattle drive with real cowboys and cowgirls on horses!–that was awesome! But when we finally found a little outpost of a town, with a little restaurant (that was crowded with cowboys), I asked the waitress what the kids do about school and if they were all home-schooled. She told us that the internet is not reliable in that area, and so during the week, the schoolchildren live in tiny apartments in the towns nearest their ranch, and their mothers live with them and that’s where they go to school, while Dad stays back at the ranch with the hands to do the work. On Fridays, the kids and their mothers drive back home to spend the weekend with Dad and then return to the town on Sunday evening.
Sounds cool, doesn’t it? But I’ll bet it isn’t cool at all when winter blizzards make it impossible for the children and their moms to get back to the ranch and they have to spend the weekend in that hotel.
It’s certainly not the way all children in the U.S. get their schooling!
In Michelle Obama’s biography, she describes testing high enough to receive a scholarship to an exclusive prep school–in the city of Chicago (her family lived in a suburb on the South Side)! So she would get up at 5 a.m., walk to a bus stop near her house, get on a city bus that took her into the city, transfer to ANOTHER city bus, and then be dropped off at her school–it took 2 hours each morning and another 2 hours in the afternoon.
And that’s certainly not the way a lot of children get their schooling!
I think that the locals need to control their own schools, and that Pres. Trump is on the right track. As various school districts fail to educate while others do an amazing job and produce high academic achievers, more cities and towns will study the methods of the successful school areas and hopefully, adapt those methods instead of continuing to produce under-educated adults who aren’t prepared to live and work in the modern U.S.A.
Interesting points, Mrs. Whitlock. I know next to nothing about technology but it seems to me that this new Starlink system provides internet connectivity even to the most remote areas. That is a real possibility for families to get online education without enduring grave inconvenience.