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The U.S. Education Department is under fire. President Donald Trump has made the federal agency a central target in his intensifying war on education. Through a recent executive order, the president has instructed Secretary Linda McMahon to map out a detailed plan to dismantle the agency that she is responsible for. The order instructs her to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

McMahon has already begun reducing the workforce from 4,133 people to 2,183. Although only Congress has the legal authority to abolish the agency, Trump will likely use every tool that he has to render the department powerless until congressional Republicans have the votes to finish the job.

The U.S. Education Department is under fire. President Donald Trump has made the federal agency a central target in his intensifying war on education. Through a recent executive order, the president has instructed Secretary Linda McMahon to map out a detailed plan to dismantle the agency that she is responsible for. The order instructs her to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

McMahon has already begun reducing the workforce from 4,133 people to 2,183. Although only Congress has the legal authority to abolish the agency, Trump will likely use every tool that he has to render the department powerless until congressional Republicans have the votes to finish the job.

Established in 1979, the Education Department is certainly not the most powerful federal agency in the country. Compared to the Defense Department or Homeland Security, it remains a relatively minor player at the table. Yet the Education Department provides many essential services for students, teachers, and their surrounding communities.

The department manages more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. It handles sizable financial support programs, including Pell grants (financial aid for low-income undergraduate students) and work-study programs. College loans constitute the bulk of what the agency does on a daily basis, but it also distributes federal funding for K-12 education. Through Title 1 of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the education secretary allocates supplemental assistance to elementary and secondary schools that educate children who are raised in families with incomes that fall below a specific threshold.

Federal workers also oversee special education programs and English-acquisition classes. The education secretary likewise provides grants to states and local jurisdictions through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Finally, in addition to collecting educational data, the Education Department is responsible for enforcing Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—policies that combat discrimination in schools receiving federal funds.

Should Trump succeed, he would strike a major blow to millions of American families who depend on this agency to supplement the efforts of states and localities to ensure that students receive the best educational experience possible.

Debates over a federal department handling education are very old. Congress created the first iteration of the agency, which President Andrew Johnson signed into law in 1867.

Besides attempting to fulfill the ideas of the common school reform........

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