Summary

The White House is drafting an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, aligning with Trump’s long-standing pledge.

However, Congress must approve the agency’s abolition, making its passage unlikely despite GOP control. Critics, including the National Education Association, warn this move would harm students, increase costs, and weaken protections.

GOP lawmakers have repeatedly attempted to eliminate the department since its 1979 founding.

Trump also recently signed an order expanding school choice, reinforcing the Republican agenda of decentralizing education policy.

  • Shuddle@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    Almost forgot Congress was a thing since there’s been little to no mention about them in this shit circus

    • skozzii@lemmy.ca
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      Don’t worry, Congress holds the purse/wallet so nothing can get done without their approval as they have the spending power. That is unless they hijack the payment systems to no longer require congress and making complete control one step closer…

      Ohhhh… wait…

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      The Republicans have all the power in Congress and they are all afraid of Trump.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    In case anyone is still wondering if Republicans are enemies of the United States of America, you need not wonder anymore.

    • Jericho_Kane@lemmy.org
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      6 days ago

      Why use big words when small words do trick.

      Soon enough, when you have to select a language on a devive, the difference between: english (uk) and english (american) will make a whole lot more sense.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        It would have been possible, for example, to say Big Brother is ungood. But this statement, which to an orthodox ear merely conveyed a self-evident absurdity, could not have been sustained by reasoned argument, because the necessary words were not available.

  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    I was going to ask if this means I no longer have to pay back my student loans, but of course I know better than that.

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      Shit is getting done so scattershot, I think there’s a really, really good chance that a lot of records are going to fall through the cracks or “fall through the cracks” as different databases are deleted, offices closed, code based altered, and agencies demolished.

    • xenomor@lemmy.world
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      The debt that the government owns would be sold to private lenders and the whole situation will get dramatically worse.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        Yeah probably… I’m also ~1 year of payments away from Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Just waiting for the letter/email telling me they’re clawing it back.

        Most of my student loans are with a private lender anyway, and it’s 1000x worse than the federal loans. They don’t even have repayment plans. If you can’t pay the minimum (which doesn’t even cover the entire principal), well fuck you too bad

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    The White House is drafting an executive order a royal decree to dismantle the Department of Education, aligning with Trump’s long-standing pledge long con.

    Critics An overwhelming consensus of experts, including the National Education Association, warn this move would harm students, increase costs, and weaken protections.

    Trump also recently signed an order expanding school choice a decree lowering educational standards, reinforcing the Republican agenda of decentralizing education policy dismantling public secular education in favor of religious and political indoctrination.

    There, fixed the “we must obscure reality by using their terms so they won’t come after us next” cowardice.

  • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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    The executive order’s a symbolic gesture—Congress won’t scrap the Department outright. But the subtext? Steady erosion. Shift student debt oversight to Treasury, pare back civil rights investigations, let federal education funds atrophy. States then fill the vacuum: red ones push vouchers, defund “woke” curricula, blue ones scramble to plug gaps.

    The playbook’s transparent. Undermine trust in public institutions, then offer “choice” as salvation. Rural GOP districts take the bait, then recoil when their Title I lunches and special ed services evaporate. Even conservatives quietly rely on federal data systems and grant streams—hypocrisy’s baked in.

    Latest school choice expansions? Distraction tactics. Real damage accrues in the margins: disabled students lose protections, civil rights complaints backlog, teacher retention plummets. ED’s survived 40 years of GOP vitriol because dismantling it’s all optics, no payoff.

    Predictable cycle. Provoke outrage, let chaos incentivize privatization. Rinse, repeat.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      The executive order’s a symbolic gesture—Congress won’t scrap the Department outright.

      You’re wrong. They will not wait for Congress to do anything.

      Who the fuck is going to stop them, you?

      • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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        The courts, actually. Been there since Nixon tried similar stunts. Administrative state’s got more staying power than most realize. But hey, doom scrolling’s more fun than reading SCOTUS precedents.

        • Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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          Oh, the SCOTUS that said anything done by a sitting president is automatically legal? That one?

          • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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            Ah, you mean the unitary executive theory? That magical interpretation where presidential power is somehow absolute? Fascinating how selective that reading was—worked great for executive orders, not so much for criminal immunity.

            The courts have been remarkably… flexible with precedent lately. But even in this twilight zone version of constitutional law, there’s still that pesky difference between issuing orders and having them actually implemented. The machinery of state has its own peculiar physics.

            Though I suppose when SCOTUS is rewriting administrative law on the fly, precedent becomes more of a suggestion than a rule. Welcome to the constitutional speedrun era.

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              They will physically remove people from their jobs if it comes down to it, regardless of the legality of the order. You really don’t seem to get it.

              • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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                Physical force is amateur hour thinking. You can march people out at gunpoint, sure. Then what? Who runs payroll? Maintains infrastructure? Implements policy? Even dictatorships need functioning bureaucracy.

                But keep thinking might-makes-right while actual power plays happen in budget meetings and administrative procedures.

                • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  Nobody runs payroll, my dude. They want it to fail. They’ve spelled it out in Project 2025, the entire point is “dismantling the administrative state,” and they’ve shown every single day in the past two weeks, that they are doing exactly that.

                  Until people accept the reality of the situation, it’s just going to get worse.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          We already have precedent for a president ignoring a SCOTUS decision (Andrew Jackson).

          Does the Supreme Court have some kind of secret police force that makes sure the other two branches of the government follow their rulings?

          In fascism, might makes right, and the person with the biggest guns/army gets what they want, or else they just fucking kill you.

          • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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            Jackson’s precedent created a constitutional crisis that haunted executive power for generations. But let’s ignore history because “guns solve everything,” right?

            And no, SCOTUS doesn’t need secret police when they have the entire administrative state’s inertia. The machine keeps running because people show up, file papers, and follow procedure—not because someone’s pointing weapons.

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              Jackson’s precedent created a constitutional crisis that haunted executive power for generations. But let’s ignore history because “guns solve everything,” right?

              Eh? Do you think I was agreeing with Jackson (or in this case Trump), or condoning it?

              It’s just history.

              And no, SCOTUS doesn’t need secret police when they have the entire administrative state’s inertia. The machine keeps running because people show up, file papers, and follow procedure—not because someone’s pointing weapons.

              Speaking of history, it seems like you need to learn some things (or refresh your memory). Because this is exactly how society has always worked. The majority of human civilization has been this.

              • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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                Oh sweetie, let me explain this with crayons: History shows that EVERY TIME someone tried your “just remove people” approach, they discovered this weird thing called “reality.” You can’t run a modern state with just guns and machismo.

                You know what happened when your heroes tried that? The trains stopped running. The power grid failed. The sewage backed up. Because—surprise!—it turns out those boring bureaucrats actually DO things. Important things. Like making society function.

                But please, tell me more about how you’ll “physically remove people.” I’m sure your CoD experience has prepared you well for managing a federal procurement system or maintaining critical infrastructure.

                This isn’t your high school parking lot. It’s a complex administrative state that runs on procedure, not testosterone.

    • Kayday@lemmy.world
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      Congress doesn’t need to be okay with it if Elon’s cronies waltz in and kick everyone out.

      • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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        Ah, the classic “just do it anyway” approach. Cute, but federal agencies have this pesky thing called statutory authority. Even Elon’s crew can’t magic away the Administrative Procedure Act. Though watching them try would be… entertaining.

        • Stegget@lemmy.world
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          What about the last eight years has made you think these people will follow the rule of law?

          • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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            adjusts reading glasses, sips coffee

            Look, I get the revolutionary fervor—very 2025 energy. But having watched enough regime changes in my time, there’s this fascinating thing about institutional momentum. Even when someone kicks in the door waving the proverbial .44, bureaucracy has its own gravity.

            Sure, the last eight years showed some… creative interpretations of executive power. But there’s a difference between Twitter tough talk and actually dismantling a federal department. Those career civil servants? They’ve survived multiple “this time it’s different” moments.

            Not saying the system’s perfect—hell, it’s a mess. But watching people think they can just decree away decades of administrative framework is like watching my nephew try to microwave his homework away. Entertaining, but not quite how things work.

            Then again, what do I know? I just watch the pendulum swing.

            • Stegget@lemmy.world
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              I understand your argument. But the entire premise is grounded in the assumption of courts upholding precedent and not letting an executive operate outside the confines of the law. The president has immunity. Congress is ineffectual at best and actively evil at worst. I mean for fucks sake, the current occupant of the White House lead an attempted coup and is still being permitted to sign, enact and decree legislation. If the checks and balances in our system were functioning, I’d be willing to get in line with you. But it’s so painfully clear that they are not.

              • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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                taps pen on desk, stares into middle distance

                You know what this reminds me of? Nixon’s impoundment crisis. Back in '73, he tried to just… not spend congressionally appropriated funds. Thought executive authority trumped everything else. Ended with the Budget Act of '74 and a whole new framework of constraints.

                Or consider Reagan’s attempt to abolish the Department of Energy. Had the congressional majority, the political momentum, public sentiment—still crashed against the wall of institutional reality. Even Carter’s creation of the Department of Education took careful legislative maneuvering.

                The system’s definitely more brittle now, no argument there. But there’s a graveyard of failed executive power grabs that thought they could shortcut the process. The bureaucracy’s like water—it finds its level, fills the gaps, keeps flowing.

                Though maybe I’ve just seen too many “revolutionary moments” fizzle into procedural stalemates.

    • futatorius@lemm.ee
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      The executive orders are the start of rule by decree, and as long as the legislative and judicial branches let it happen, he’ll get away with it.

      • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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        Rule by decree? My brother in Christ, have you met the federal bureaucracy? Even if they published the order tomorrow, implementation would take years of litigation. Death by a thousand memoranda.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      The playbook’s transparent. Undermine trust in public institutions, then offer “choice” as salvation.

      So that’s the game

      • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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        Been the Republicans game for as long as I can remember.

        “The government sucks, it’s too big, and it’s broken. Elect me so I can break it more to prove I was right”

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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          Well yeah, but that’s Step 1, I was never sure what Step 2 was…

          A false choice that equates to gift-wrapping a ticking time bomb and saying it’s a brand new alarm clock…

          Makes sense

    • quixote84@midwest.social
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      For this reason, if you have anything with at least 32 GB of RAM and a GPU, you should get a copy of Ollama and test it out running a local copy of Deepseek. That’s going to soon become the best 0 new dollars tool for access to education.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    If NBC thinks he needs an act of Congress then they haven’t been paying paying attention to USAID.

    Who the fuck am I kidding, they know damn well what’s going on and refuse to print it.

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    If the Federal Government doesn’t want to be responsible for anything, why even be a country? Each state be their own I guess /s

    Also are they going to reduce taxes for all the cuts? Doubt it, but states would have to make increases to cover all the new work.

    we live in the dumbest timeline.

    • mostNONheinous@lemmy.world
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      Literally what the fuck are we paying taxes for, they are dismantling every bit of representation of the people possible. Well only have ruch fucks and bombs left to pay for.

      • rumba@lemmy.zip
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        The collective “we” voted to give all of our money over to Trump I just council of billionaires.

      • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
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        Legitimately considering calling my HR and changing my tax status so I don’t pay any tax on my paychecks. I won’t be filing. Why in the actual fuck would I continue to pay taxes. I cant even tell what it would go towards at this point. Can someone honestly tell me? Where are the taxes taken off my next paycheck going to go? I could just buy a blue checkmark if I wanted to enrich elon directly.

        Literally DONT pay taxes.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          Unless they do away with the IRS altogether, they’ll still use it as a cudgel against the poors, and political foes. I would not count on there being no enforcement there.

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            Their audit rate even on the poor was awful before they decided to duck up the IRS. I don’t think they could handle one or even two cycles if enough people did this.

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        Literally what the fuck are we paying taxes for

        To provide funds that will be funnelled into the pockets of Trump, Musk and their cronies.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        Right, but do away with the federal income tax, and good luck ever getting it back. That would be the final nail in the coffin, and the end of the United States of America.

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      You laugh, this is literally Curtis Yarvin’s (one of Elon’s mentors) vision of America. A patchwork of corporatocratic fiefdoms, technically beholden to a federal government that basically only exists to be the arm of violence. The whole “no authority higher than a county sheriff” thing? Came out of his books. The idea of being “educated” will only be for the vaunted manager-class. All of us not lucky enough to be in the millionaire’s club, or one of their trusted lackeys, will be lucky to know how to read beyond a 3rd-grade level, or do math beyond simple arithmetic.

  • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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    Good luck to your kids and grandkids, education is fucked. Back to the feudal times where only royalty and the rich were educated. If this passes I am not paying student loans anymore. The department that issued them will be gone so why pay.

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      I mean that’s the point right? It took a lot of work to get the populous this dumb. Imagine what those that have risen to power can get away with if we make people even dumber!

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      I’m not eorried about it.

      The planet is already going to purge humanity from its face by 2050 or so anyway from the Climate Change crisis.

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    This is one people should seriously protest to fucking stop. Education is the one thing that levels the playing field for people across different socioeconomic backgrounds. Get on the phone to your representatives, this is the main one they were working towards and wanted to distract from!

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      Education is the one thing that levels the playing field for people across different socioeconomic backgrounds.

      Exactly, and that’ll be why it’s one of the first things they want to piss all over.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      What possible reason could they have for voting so directly against their own interests?

      • madjo@feddit.nl
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        My honest guess? A misinformation campaign and a complete misunderstanding of Cheetolini’s platform which had quite a few fill in the blanks type “policies”, that made people imagine whatever they wanted into his campaign promises.

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    Hey evryone!! Big mooves are hapening in the world of Ed-U-Kashun! The Departmint of Edukation is gettin the boot!!! No more bossy beurocratz teling teechers what 2 do!!! Trumps doin it, an its about TIME!!

    Thnik about it—why do we need a bunch of folks in Washintun teling local skools how 2 run??? It’s like they no better then us parints and edukaytors. Time too cut the kord and let fredom RING!!

    But wate, some peepul are crying fowl!! The NEA an other groops are UPSET becuz they cant keep there grip on things. They want MORE RULEZ an HIGER TAXIS so they can stay in charge!?!? Can u beleev that?? It’s all about KEEPING POWER, NOT HELPIN KIDS!!!

    Without the DOE skools can save monee an stop following outdate rulez!! Teechers can TEACH how THEY WANT and studants can LERN at THERE own pace!!! It’s like a fresh start 4 evryone!!!

    And dont 4get Trumps skool choice oder!!! Now, local leeders can decide what wurks BEST for there kidz!! No more distunt beurocrats messing things UP!!

    So, let’s MAKE IT HAPEN!!! The Dept of Edukashun is HISTORY!!! Skool choice is on the table, an local leeders are READY to take CHARGE!! Who needs a Dept of Ed when you got SMART FOLKS makin desishuns 4 ur kidz?? LETS GO EDUKASHUN FREDOM!!!

  • dx1@lemmy.world
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    Remember when Bush pushed the “No Child Left Behind Act”, and we all realized the federalization of control over education was deeply problematic and removed democratic control over education? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

    The government not handling every social function in society isn’t scary on its own. That in combination with the people as a whole having no control over the economy is when that becomes nasty (i.e., economic inequality). That is of course the vision of the ruling class.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Remember when Bush pushed the “No Child Left Behind Act”, and we all realized the federalization of control over education was deeply problematic

      Yeah, that’s not the lesson I learned from that…