Since re-assuming the presidency in January, Donald Trump has been on the offensive against the U.S. Department of Education – and he’s just won a significant battle in his ongoing war. Here’s a breakdown of what we know – good, bad and ugly.

The Current State of Affairs

In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education. It was an attempt to circumvent Congressional approval for such a move, designed to eliminate roughly $124.9 billion in funding for America’s state and local public schools, which serve about 49 million U.S. children. Those in low-income communities who are aided through Title I funding, and marginalized and disabled students protected by the DOE, stand to be most impacted.

The signing was merely a first move. The Trump administration in May also proposed slashing work-study grant programs, as well as programs designed to protect students through the Individuals with Disabilities Act. This follows a “reduction in force” that saw a third of the DOE’s staff let go, as well as voluntary buyouts in the agency that took out hundreds more. 

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed Trump a significant win in his campaign against the DOE: Permission to proceed with its dismantling, by firing over 1,300 additional department workers. This will ultimately cut the staff of the DOE in half from where it was at the start of 2025. The Office for Civil Rights within the department has been hit particularly hard by the move – over half of its office have been shuttered.

At the same time, there have been attempts to reclassify more public schools as “persistently dangerous” to pave the way for more school choice, a practice that purports to give parents more agency in where their children learn, but that opponents say draws yet more funding away from public schools that need it most.

There is no attempt to frame these moves as anything other than a complete gutting – in a recent statement, DOE secretary ​​Linda McMahon said these cuts are a reflection of “the historic mandate I have been given to serve as the final Secretary of Education.”

The results of losing the DOE could be catastrophic, some education experts say. The National Education Association, the labor union which represents public school teachers, notes that “dismantling [the DOE] means defunding programs that feed, educate and protect our most vulnerable and underserved students … leaving many families fearful and anxious, and communities reeling.”

A Troubled Backdrop

The American education system was hardly utopian to begin with. A brief summation of what’s been ailing our schools:

• Public schools are already direly under-funded, a problem that well predates the second Trump administration’s takeover. 
• The Covid-19 pandemic set American children further behind – test scores are down while mental health problems and bullying are on the rise since 2020. 
• There is the ever-present fear of school shootings, of which there have been 18 so far this year.
• School autonomy has been under attack, too, with conservative elected officials banning specific lessons, entire courses – and books themselves.

Many Republicans support Trump’s anti-DOE proposals. Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke told CNN that the distribution of funding and the management of educational programs should be a state matter. “No one is talking about cutting Title I or Title IX,” which ensures educational opportunities for all genders, he said. “It’s about who’s best to deliver the funds.” When asked how states would maintain such offerings without DOE assistance, he did not give an answer.

And Kevin Roberts, president of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, told the AP that “for decades, [the DOE] has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into a failing system — one that prioritizes leftist indoctrination over academic excellence, all while student achievement stagnates and America falls further behind.” The Heritage Foundation is the architect of Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump’s second term that listed revoking federal education funding and codifying discrimination against LGBTQ students among its many goals.

From the very start, Republicans opposed the creation of the DOE when former President Jimmy Carter signed it into existence in 1979. Prominent conservative leaders from Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney have vocally opposed its existence over the years, arguing for state and local management rather than federal mandates. 

As the DOE becomes more imperiled than ever, the actual impact of these moves – coupled with the uncertainty they bring – is causing rising anxiety among many working in education.  “If you’re a leader now … do you make cuts based on what you think will happen, or wait until they do?” asked Beth Napleton, a former school founder turned leadership consultant to superintendents, principals and others in education.

An ‘Earthquake’ in the Trenches

The Story Exchange also spoke with two women educators – a public high school and college teacher, and a public college administrator – about the real-life impact of Trump’s order. They spoke anonymously to avoid potential repercussions for their places of work.

Uncertainty indeed looms large. The teacher told us her schools are “struggling to serve students … and keep ourselves afloat, in the face of a landscape that’s constantly changing.” The administrator likened the lack of clarity to “the feeling where you’re about to experience an earthquake, but not being able to prepare for it.”

Both have already seen funding revoked for various arts and research programs. Plus, many staffing decisions are tied to federal funding, creating a rising sense of job insecurity. 

But they added that worse, still, is the fear they feel on behalf of their students, in particular, the most at-risk. That includes trans students, who have been targeted and denied access to extracurricular activities, and immigrant students who are scared of leaving school to visit family abroad (while colleges and universities are still permitted to admit international students, that is), and those scared that they or their families might be taken away by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Plus, both educators added, many are being silenced – for example, students who have spoken out against ongoing U.S. support of Israel’s war efforts against Palestine. The administrator likened the current climate to the Cold War-era practice of McCarthyism.

“We all do what we can to help people cope, but we don’t have answers,” the administrator told us. “The fear is palpable.” 

Women Pushing Back

The resistance has taken many forms. 

One example: Back in April, Jaime Cook, a principal at a K-12 public school in Sackets Harbor, New York, spoke out publicly after three students in her school system were taken by ICE officers. “Please think about how every hour feels for a third grader in a detention center,” she wrote. After others joined in her public outcry, the family was allowed to return home.

While that incident had a positive resolution, confusion and fear continue to swirl around what DOE cuts and other acts by the Trump administration will ultimately mean for U.S. public schools – which makes it difficult, if not impossible to create a cohesive plan of action, Napleton notes. “People who work directly with budgets are preparing a variety of scenarios, with the best case being funding levels stay the same, and the worst case being zero,” she reports. “A lot of principals are fielding questions – not just from staff, but also parents – and in most cases, there are no definitive answers to give yet.”

She continued that “this is a discouraging time for leaders in education,” as this week’s Supreme Court call will ultimately “impact communities across the country, particularly … students with disabilities” whose “access to a free and appropriate public education” is now significantly compromised. As is, she adds on a broader note, “the role of education as a supposed equalizer in our country.”

Pushing back often manifests, then, as taking on the culture war aspect and negating the “tone coming from the top,” she adds.

In addition to the scores of individual teachers refusing to make their classrooms any less overtly inclusive, despite direct orders to take down welcoming signage or amend curricula, some educators have taken their resistance energy to the courts. The American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s largest teacher unions, filed a lawsuit in February against the Trump administration for its threat to withhold funding to schools that taught students about slavery and racism. (Judges have blocked the president’s attempts.) In March, several other education unions and civil rights organizations teamed up to sue Trump over his DOE executive order. This month, teachers have been rallying to push back against his administration’s defunding plans.

Women outside of the education system are attempting to fight back, too, via startups or initiatives that serve students and teachers alike. Julia Sherwin, executive director of the Global Education Initiative at GlobalPost Media, which writes and disseminates international news digests, told The Story Exchange that her company’s free educational arm, which Sherwin oversees, reaches over 11,000 students and teachers, including those at institutions of higher learning like Harvard and Yale. “It is truly a critical time to foster understanding, and to help students really make sense of the world around them,” Sherwin noted of this work.

Especially given the additional executive power recently handed to Trump by the Supreme Court, she adds. It’s just “further incentive for GlobalPost to democratize access to educational content.”

In a similar vein, Whitney Duenas Richardson says she launched Global Sprouts to counter the “America First” ideology espoused by the Trump administration. Her company’s subscription boxes, which teach children about other cultures from around the world, currently reach 2,000 in 15 states. “We need to understand that we’re not the only people on this planet,” she says. 

Inclusion and Resistance as Defaults

Victoria Antonini, a former high school principal in the New York City public school system who now runs Brave Elephant Learning Lab, a consultancy for marginalized leaders, spoke of the importance of making diversity, equity and inclusion protections a part of a school’s fabric, especially under the Trump administration. Not just having such policies on paper, she clarifies, but living them out in a school’s official language, actions, events, decor and more.

When inclusion is truly baked into a school’s culture, “it’s not so easily dismantled” by Republican suppression efforts. “Not if it’s in the water. Not if it’s ingrained.”

The recent Supreme Court decision makes this work even more critical, she continued. “If there is not accompanying internal work – dismantling internalized white supremacy and oppression that happens at the individual, interpersonal, institutional and ideological levels – it is a house of cards that is easily collapsed.”

Indeed, these and other preventative measures are extremely important, Antonini adds – but so is fostering comfort and safety for students now. Her work in schools taught her the importance of creating opportunities for fun, especially in times of confusion and strife – “more dances, more celebrations,” because “joy is an act of resistance.” 

Napleton agrees. “The general sense is that people in schools are really just trying to make sure kids are learning and thriving – and are extremely frustrated that not only are the actions of the government making it harder to do so, but they are also creating an environment of fear and scarcity that is actively harming communities.”

The most important piece, though, is to simply keep up the fight, however one can and whatever may come, Antonini adds. “We resist … by not giving in – not obeying in advance.” ◼️

(This article, first published May 27, 2025, has been updated to include new information.)