Our Chicago: Calls To Eliminate The Department of Education
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The U.S. Department of Education was created as a cabinet-level agency in 1979 during President Jimmy Carter's tenure.
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Now, there have been calls to eliminate it, specially under the Trump administration.
One of the loudest voices calling for its demise is President Donald Trump.
The president has recently told his Education Secretary Designate Linda McMahon that he wants her to "put herself out of a job."
While that's coming from the White House, Governor JB Pritzker said eliminating the department would be devastating for schools across the state of Illinois.
"We're talking about billions of dollars comes from the federal government," Pritzker said.
Erica Meltzer is the national editor for the education news outlet, Chalkbeat.
"Some of the Republican states would probably be more impacted than Illinois but nonetheless it is $4.5 billion to Illinois in the most recent year that we had data available. More than a billion dollars to the city of Chicago, to their public schools," Meltzer said.
Which bring up the question: If Republican states could be more greatly impacted, why don't more Republican members of Congress oppose eliminating the Department of Education?
"Programs like Title 1 actually existed before the Department of Education," Meltzer explained. "When you talk to Republican governors, they envision that they would get a similar amount of money to what they get now but there would be less red tape, it would just be a block grant that they could use as they wish."
What exactly does the department do?
Meltzer explained that the Education Department serves as a clearing house for multiple programs.
"They send out Title 1 funds to high poverty schools. Money for homeless students, money for students who are learning English. They support community schools. They also run the student loan program. And they also serve as a clearing house for education research and best practices," she explained.
If the department were to be eliminated, the question is, who would distribute those funds?
Meltzer said Congress would have to sign off on who gets Title 1.
"Certain other functions could be moved to other federal departments. So, you would have a federal agency, sending the money out. But potentially the administration of those funds would not be by people who had education expertise," she said. "And there's concerns that the way it would be distributed would be different that it would be directed in ways that would not be as beneficial as people think those funds are now."
