Trump To Sign Order Closing Dept. Of Education: See CT Impacts

CONNECTICUT — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday that calls for the elimination of the Department of Education, according to multiple sources, including the Associated Press. The order, scheduled to be signed at 3:30 followed by a public event, fulfills a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that Trump has decried as wasteful.

However, dismantling the department will likely be impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.

According to a White House fact sheet, the order will direct Education Secretary Lind McMahon “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

According to a draft of the order previously obtained by CNN the order reads, “The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support — has failed our children, our teachers, and our families."

Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes, a former teacher, wrote on X that she will oppose Trump's plans.

"Met with the Connecticut Association of Schools who expressed their concerns over the attacks on the Department of Education & its impact on CT public schools," Hayes wrote. "As a teacher in Congress, I will keep fighting for students & school communities."

Gov. Ned Lamont criticized President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, warning it threatens the stability of public schools and critical federal programs.

“The president’s executive order threatens the strength and stability of our public schools by undermining the federal government’s role in supporting education," Lamont said. "Programs like Title I, IDEA, Pell Grants, and Impact Aid are essential to ensuring that all students have access to a high-quality education, regardless of their family’s income. These investments help level the playing field, providing critical resources for low-income students, funding mental health and school safety initiatives, and guaranteeing services for students with disabilities.

Lamont urged Republicans in Congress to oppose the order, emphasizing the need for continued investment in education to maintain global competitiveness.

Attorney General William Tong criticized President Donald Trump's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, calling it an "illegal effort" to undermine American education.

Last week, Tong and 20 other attorneys general sued to block the administration’s plan to fire over 50% of the department’s workforce.

“This is a reckless assault on our kids and schools," Tong said in a statement. "....We’ve already sued, and we are reviewing this lawless action now and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to protect our kids."

The lawsuit argues the Executive Branch cannot dismantle the department without congressional approval.

Here are some ways Connecticut residents could be affected by the closure of the Department of Education:

What Happens To Student Loans?

One of the Education Department’s functions is underwriting the loans that enable millions of people each year to attend college and graduate school. The agency also manages the approximately $1.6 trillion student loan debt portfolio.

About 42 million people nationwide have federal student loans, including about 507,200 borrowers in Connecticut. The loans, underwritten by the Education Department, allow millions of people a year to attend college or graduate school.

Borrowers in Connecticut carry an average debt load of $$36,672. Statewide, student loan debt is about $$18.6 billion, according to an analysis of publicly available data by Education Data Initiative researchers.

Even if the Education Department were eliminated, borrowers would still have to repay their loans, Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt, told NBC News.

The most logical agency to assume management of the debt portfolio would be the Treasury Department, Mayotte said.

Or, the Justice Department or Department of Labor could carry out some Education Department functions, according to a blog post by The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Another alternative is the privatization of the federal student loan system, which some Republicans have proposed.

What Happens To Public Schools?

Most public school funding comes from the local level, with the federal government providing an average 13.6 percent of the funding for public K-12 education nationwide in the 2021-2022 school year, according to an analysis by USA Facts of National Center for Education Statistics data.

About 8.2 percent of public school funding in Connecticut comes from the federal government.

Gutting federal funding for public schools would hurt some states worse than others, Kevin Welner, the director of the National Education Policy Center, told Axios.

States with larger numbers of lower-income families that receive higher shares of Title I funding would be hurt the worst, Welner said, noting they “don’t have the same capacity to step in and make up that difference.”

“In wealthier states, we would probably see some reduced spending for students and some increased state allocations,” he said. “In states that are already financially strained, because they just have less wealth, this could result simply in less funding and fewer resources for the students.”

Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said in a post on Blue Sky that students would be directly harmed.

“It will drain resources from the most vulnerable, skyrocket class sizes, make higher ed more expensive, strip special ed services, and gut student civil rights protections,” Pringle said. “We won't let this happen.”

— The Associated Press contributed reporting.