By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com
While on the campaign trail, Donald Trump discussed his plans to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) and with him officially being back in the oval office, his threat to do away with the government agency now has the chance to become a reality. And although the dissolution of the DOE is no sure thing at the moment, parents and teachers alike are concerned about how this could impact our nation’s most vulnerable students.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 49.6 million students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in 2022. 7.4 million of those students were identified as Black which is about nearly a third of the 22.1 million White students that were counted for. And although, Black students generally account for less of the U.S. students, there’s also less representation of Black students in all levels of schooling due decreased enrollment. This can be seen in pre-school and college statistics.
A report shared in June 2023 by the U.S. Census Bureau found that:
“In 2019, about 53 percent of all Black children were enrolled in a preschool program. But the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant drops in enrollment due to fears of contamination and/or families being less able to afford the expense of preschool education. By 2021, 46 percent of White children and only 39 percent of Black children were enrolled in preschool.”
It was also reported that:
“In 2011, there were more than 3.5 million Black students enrolled in higher education. In 2019, before the pandemic, there were just over 3 million Black students enrolled in higher education. Two years later in 2021, 2,882,000 Black students were enrolled at colleges and universities.”
For a long time, Black students have been disadvantaged and risk of not receiving the education they deserve to the systemic racism.The DOE’s founding in 1979 has since gone on to play a crucial role in creating programs for minority, disabled and impoverished students, along with the regulation of national education standards and student loan disbursements.
With the increasing number of right-wing officials opposing the teaching of “woke” race and gender based lessons, many of them have begun to advocate for the agency’s authority to be given to the states.
“What Trump is threatening to do with dismantling the Department of Education is give all the power back to the states and that sounds good in theory, but you and I both know we have 50 states. You cannot trust 50 different states to have the best interests of Black students at heart,” said Sidney Jones, Ed.D. “I’m from the south– I’m a proud person from Louisiana but I know my state. I know the South in general and you definitely shouldn’t trust the state of Louisiana and many other states with making sure Black students get treated equally. Especially not the states that wanted to tell us separate was equal— not those states.”
For the last 26 years Jones has worked as both an educator and a mentor throughout the central Ohio area. And although he currently resides in the midwest his southern roots have always kept him privy to the racism that exists throughout the American education system. During his time as both an educator and a student he’s seen how the DOE benefits minority and lower-income students.
“When I was an undergraduate student I remember receiving Pell Grants for school and I later learned that it was distributed by the Department of Education. As I became an educator I then began to learn more about other things they operate like early childhood development programs,” said Jones. “Additionally there are programs specifically designed to help lower income or minority students at the collegiate level like the TRiO program.”
The long-time educator noted that the DOE, like many government agencies, isn’t without flaw, however the work they do and the programs they run are vital to the nation’s current education system. He explained how the department’s development has impacted the landscape of special education programs throughout the nation.
“Special education programs are regulated by the department of education and those programs aren’t designed to help just Black students with disabilities but all students, ” he said. “ I think some people forget that resources like classroom aids and individual education plans are made possible because of the department of education.”
Hope Hurst has dedicated her life to the education and empowerment of Black children. She spent 32 years working in the Columbus City Schools district and through her experiences she’s seen the many ways the DOE plays a vital role in the everyday lives of inner-city students.
“The Department of Education regulates the bussing system and is responsible for making sure kids can get to school safely,”she said. “If Trump were to dismantle this agency I’m sure the school transportation system would be affected and it would then trickle down to the students. There are already so many students that become truant or miss vital lessons in school because of transportation issues.”
It was reported by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics that in 2021 that 60 percent of low-income students take the bus to school and 20 percent of low-income families own no vehicles and the majority (70 percent) of children from these families take a school bus to school.
She continued on, explaining how the issue of transportation alone could impact not only students but the entire school. Noting that attendance numbers are often reviewed when it comes to conversations about funding and annual budgets.
“Here in Columbus, we have count week sometime during October and it’s a really big deal because what your schools attendance numbers look like that week will determine how much funding your school gets for the year,” Hurst explained. “And even though this crucial time period is just a week long, once administrators get students into the flow of getting to school on time or at all for that matter they try to keep that momentum.”
Title I is a federal program run by the DOE that provides financial assistance to schools with high percentages of low-income students.The program’s goal is to help all students receive a high-quality education. According to MDR Education, in March of 2024, 49,229 of public schools in the United States were labeled as Title I schools. Hurst explained how detrimental this funding is to students and families in predominantly Black and low-income areas.
“Without the Department of Education many of our already low performing schools and districts would be stripped of Title I funding that affords schools the opportunity to improve student outcomes and raise academic performance,” she said. “Each school I worked in was a Title I school and with our funding we were able to hire reading intervention teachers as extra support. These reading intervention teachers worked with students who were most likely to fall behind or were already behind according to their diagnostic assessments. Without them students would not receive a well-needed double dose of support in reading and math.”
The nation needs the DOE to thrive and truly provide all of our students with equal access to a proper education. This is bigger than race and honestly it shouldn’t be a matter of politics. If the children are really our future, then keeping the DOE running is a must.
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