Why Axing the Dept. of Education Hurts Students, Pre-K to College

This post was originally published on Word In Black. By: Reid Setzer Terminating the Department of Education is a clear goal of Project 2025, which is rife with terrible ideas that would harm students and schools nationwide. Conservatives have been fixated on this particular bad idea since the department was created in 1979, but it has& gained new prominence in this year’s campaign. From limiting federal oversight to ensure civil rights protections and adequate education for students with disabilities to ending the data collection key to holding unscrupulous colleges accountable, eliminating the Department of Education (ED) could have devastating consequences for students throughout their academic journeys, from preschool through college. Early childhood, elementary, and secondary education programs administered by the Department of Education are& vital to our nation’s students. While the amount of federal pre-K-12 education funding provided is much less than that supplied by states and localities, federal programs are vital in supporting students from low-income backgrounds, developing and training educators, and providing resources for English learners, alongside other traditionally underserved students. If conservatives succeed in defunding or outright killing these programs as they have previously proposed, schools in high-poverty districts would be drained of millions of dollars, crippling...