Former Ed. Secretary Margaret Spellings on Trump's Plan to Shut Down Dept. of Education

Reaction to Executive Order

• ❓ Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of Education, expresses having many questions about President Trump's executive order to close the Department of Education.
• 💡 She acknowledges that there is always work to be done to make the department more efficient, but emphasizes the need to stay focused on improving student achievement, especially given recent concerning reports.

Historical Federal Role in Education

• 🏛️ The federal role in education began during the LBJ era with the goal of ensuring opportunity for everyone, regardless of zip code.
• 💰 Key federal programs include Title I for low-income students, IDEA for special education, and financial aid/loan programs for higher education.
• 📈 Under President Bush's 'No Child Left Behind,' federal spending was tied to measurable progress, which initially drove student achievement improvements before stagnating.

Concerns About Shuttering the Department

• ⚠️ Spellings voices concerns that closing the department might distract from the most urgent problem: stagnant and declining student achievement, particularly for disadvantaged students.
• 📉 She notes that declines in student achievement began before COVID-19, partly due to the federal government paying less attention and allowing states more leeway.
• 🎯 The core question is whether the Department of Education helps maintain focus on student achievement or hinders it.

State Responsibility vs. Federal Role

• 🗣️ While acknowledging education is fundamentally a state and local responsibility, Spellings questions the assertion that federal involvement creates excessive red tape.
• 🤝 She suggests that when the federal government keeps states focused on student achievement, progress is made.
• 📝 Her advice to governors would be to identify specific impediments to progress and address them directly, rather than eliminating the federal role.

The National Dialogue on Education

• 📉 Spellings believes the national dialogue is missing a sense of urgency regarding student achievement, comparing it to public outrage over plane safety or food contamination.
• 🚀 She stresses the importance of tapping into the human capital of all citizens to maintain national leadership.
• 🧩 Regarding the executive order, she notes that programs may be relocated rather than eliminated, questioning the efficiency of dealing with multiple departments (HHS, DOJ, SBA, DOL) for education-related matters.
• 🤔 Her primary questions revolve around the shared belief in broad educational opportunity and how to best achieve results and improve student achievement, particularly concerning the potential gutting of national report cards and research functions.