"Last week, the Trump administration announced it was moving a raft of Congressionally required Education Department programs to other federal departments-effectively undermining Congress's aim 46 years ago when it created the department. It's a move that has some scholars who've studied the history of federal education policy scratching their heads, including about how it relates to the administration's mantra of "returning education to the states." They don't know exactly what the ramifications of this decoupling will be. Some say it could waste time or reduce efficiency-or worse."
"They also see Trump's efforts as the latest chapter in a more than 200-year debate over the federal role in education, including whether to create an Education Department, what should be in it and whether to dismantle it again. There was a version as far back as 1867, established and swiftly eliminated amid civil and states' rights arguments that continued through the 20th century Civil Rights Era to the 1979 creation of the modern Education Department and into today. This happened while the government got more involved in education in response to the country's competition with the Soviet Union and now China."
"Both Democrats and Republicans have pushed for and against creating the department. After President Jimmy Carter re-established it, Reagan campaigned to destroy it. Then the 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report on issues in U.S. schools appeared to sap that effort, and Reagan's fellow Republican George W. Bush embraced a strong federal role in "education reform" with the bipartisan No Child Left Behind legislation."
The Trump administration moved a set of Congressionally mandated Education Department programs into other federal departments, raising concerns about undermining the department's original purpose. Scholars question how the shift aligns with the administration's stated goal of returning education control to the states and worry about potential inefficiencies or wasted time from the reorganization. The move is framed as part of a more than 200-year national debate over the federal role in education, with historical episodes from 1867, the Civil Rights Era, Cold War pressures, the 1979 department creation, and later bipartisan shifts including No Child Left Behind.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
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