President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed dismantling of the Department of Education in favor of state-managed education policy could significantly impact the University and its students, experts predict. According to administrators and professors, the abolition of this department — or major changes to how it functions, if Trump is unable to fully abolish it — could impact how students at the University receive financial support and how the University is able to enforce civil rights protections.
The department establishes policy for and administers most federal assistance to education, including universities. It provides direct support for the University and its students through federal financial aid programs and administrative support for Title VI and Title IX enforcement. Thousands of students at the University receive federal financial aid, and the department’s Office of Civil Rights supports the University in ensuring that institutional policies and practices are in compliance with federal civil rights laws.
Trump has repeatedly called for the abolition of the department since his 2016 presidential campaign, framing the move as part of a broader effort to reduce federal involvement in education. In a video posted to social media in 2023, Trump said that the individual states are better equipped to handle education policy than the federal government, claiming that the current school system indoctrinates children with socially inappropriate and politically charged material.
"One other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states," Trump said. "We want them to run the education of our children because they'll do a much better job of it."
However, dismantling the department requires more than presidential approval, according to a written statement to The Cavalier Daily from Stephanie Rowley, dean of the School of Education and Human Development. The department was established by an act of Congress in 1979 to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. According to Rowley, eliminating it would require a new act of Congress.
Such a measure would require a majority vote in the House of Representatives and 60 votes in the Senate. As it stands, the Republican party has control of Congress with 53 of 100 seats in the Senate and 220 of 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
According to Kimberly Robinson, School of Law professor and former member of the general counsel’s office for the department, repealing the congressional act that created the department would likely prove difficult, as the department benefits states by granting their schools federal funding.
“The states have a significant interest in the Department enduring because it administers billions in federal aid, and that aid will have to go through the federal government to reach the states,” Robinson said. “So if the Department is abolished, those programs will be administered by other federal agencies and may be administered by people with less expertise about education.”
University Law Prof. Joy Milligan said that even if Trump fails to abolish the department, the administration could weaken the department by reallocating its programs to other agencies or by installing political appointees in its leadership positions. Milligan said that this approach could achieve many of the same goals the administration is striving for — particularly less federal government involvement with education — without the need for congressional approval.
“Because the Secretary [of Education] is chosen by the President and can be fired at will, that effectively gives the President the ability to control through the secretary all of those political appointees,” Milligan said, “I think [the Trump administration] will likely appoint people who disagree with the mission of the Department, who want to see government not working effectively and not doing much.”
President-elect Trump has nominated Linda McMahon to serve as Secretary of Education. McMahon, a former administrator of the Small Business Administration and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment who does not have a background in education policy. McMahon still needs to win a simple majority vote in the Republican-controlled Senate before she can assume the cabinet position.
In her written statement, Rowley shared a position similar to Milligan’s — that Trump will possess the power to significantly affect education systems. Rowley stated that although she believes it is unlikely that the Trump administration will eliminate the department, it may make changes to the department that will directly impact the University, including lessening research funding and support for civil rights protections.
“The bar would be lower for Congress to reduce funding for education-related research,” Rowley said. “This could have a significant effect on our school, which has been a national leader in research and [is] funded by the U.S. Department of Education.”
The department plays a significant role in funding research and student aid programs at the University, according to an email statement from Deputy University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover. In 2024, the University received $25,260,000 in grants from the department’s Institute for Education Sciences to support educational research, including on topics such as disabilities and mental health in schools, Glover said.
Moreover, multiple federal, financial aid programs assist students at the University, including Pell Grants — federal, need-based awards that do not need to be repaid — and Federal Work Study awards, a need-based program which provides part time employment to students.
Glover said that Pell Grants provided $13.1 million in direct support to 2,486 University students in 2023. The University has also received $2 million to fund Federal Work Study programs that benefit hundreds of students, and $675,900 to support 1,203 students through Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants — grants given to students in extreme need of financial support.
The Pell Grant Program has historically received bipartisan support. Glover said the University will remain committed to advocating for such federal funding streams and will continue to work with Congress to fund the programs supporting University students and faculty.
Beyond funding research and financial aid programs, the department oversees enforcement of civil rights laws, including Title VI, Title IX and the Rehabilitation Act, which together protect students from discrimination based on race, gender and disability. According to Robinson, if the department were abolished, responsibilities such as civil rights enforcement could be transferred to other federal agencies such as the Department of Justice. Robinson said requiring the University to engage with multiple federal agencies to enforce civil rights laws could place an additional burden on its administrators and require additional staffing.
Milligan said that the Trump administration will also have the ability to challenge civil rights enforcement by changing who's running the department and who the political appointees are.
“In a conservative administration, Title VI enforcement is going to look really different. The president does have very strong abilities to kind of control from the top down how civil rights law will be enforced,” Milligan said. “So we always see reversals and flips when [the presidency] goes from Democrat to Republican, so I don't think they need to close the Department of Education to undermine Title VI enforcement.”
Robinson agreed that the Trump Administration could undermine civil rights enforcement by cutting federal funding and staffing. She said that civil rights enforcement will continue as long as there's federal staffing to enforce it, but if staffing is cut, many universities — including the University of Virginia — could be affected.
“It's easy to underestimate how much the U.S. Department of Education supports the success of our K-12 and higher education systems,” Robinson said. “The work of the department is often behind the scenes, but it is important and impactful, and so breaking it up and sending it to other agencies is likely to undermine that work.”
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