What’s at stake for Nebraska students if Department of Education is dismantled
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, CNN reported Thursday.
The department funds programs like special education and provides accountability across schools nationwide.
So the proposal raised concerns about what the loss of federal oversight and funding could mean for schools.
“If the elimination of the Department of the Education also means the elimination of federal aid to schools, not just the management structure but the actual dollar flow, you’re going to try to do schooling with less,” said Ted Hamann, an education policy professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The department currently provides millions of dollars in federal funding to Nebraska schools.
If it’s dismantled, Hamann said schools across the state may face increased pressure to meet the needs of their students.
“The disparities between schools, the haves and have nots, is going to be bigger, and that could be long-term,” Hamann said. “I don’t think the state of Nebraska is terribly interested in having which school district you go to be profoundly defining of what your opportunities are after high school.”
He also worries about the impacts on college students’ financial aid.
“The federal government has guaranteed loans, so families can have, ‘Well, this is the tuition we can pay out-of-pocket. This is the grant that we have that also reduce the bill and here are the loans to make up for difference.'” Hamann said. “If you start making loans harder to get that becomes constraining limitation on the sort of number of folks who can go into teaching.”
Tim Royers, the president of the Nebraska State Education Association released a statement saying, “President Trump should consider taking my civics class because then he would learn that only an act of Congress could eliminate the Department of Education.”
Royers went on to say, “This would do real harm to thousands of families across the state.”
The Nebraska Department of Education said because it’s a developing situation, it is not able to comment.
Hamann said it’s not just funding educators are concerned about, but the loss of federal guidance to ensure consistency in education across the county.
The department funds Title IX compliance, which is part of the reason we have women’s sports like volleyball.
If it were to be eliminated, it leaves the question of whether men’s and women’s sports will be equally funded if someone is not watching at a federal level.
