I am the daughter of a teacher. The fact that the government is disrespecting her is ridiculous. Teachers everywhere are working hard to provide and make sure your children have a good education and this is the thanks they get.
As President Trump’s second and final term continues so does the continuous controversy tied to his name. Written in Project 2025 plans to remove the Department of Education have been finalized. On March 20, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. While a full shutdown would need congressional approval, this ultimately sparked fear in teachers and parents across the country.
While curriculums are decided by individual districts, the Department of Education funding, among other things, helps educate students who are poor, disabled, still learning English, or need extra support. This would mean that states like Texas, which is already behind educationally, would move behind even further. Texas, unfortunately, is one of the states that is considered at the bottom 10 in education. With President Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education could mean bad things for Texas teachers and students.
According to the Texas Education Agency,(TEA) Texas’ test scores show that Texas is at least 42.06% behind the top state of Massachusetts, which is home to some of the top performing schools in the nation such as MIT and Harvard. Even though Texas is home to colleges such as University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M, Texas still falls behind with grade school students’ test scores. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) showed that students are falling behind specifically in reading especially after the redesign in the 2022 – 2023 school year. According to The Nation’s Report Card in 2024, 40% of Texas eighth graders were below the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Basic level reading, which is the lowest level. DOE helped with these issues specifically for students who are English Language Learners. The department allowed for these students to have the opportunity to be part of national leadership programs to make sure they had high English proficiency and the ability to excel in academics.
Texas is also not the best when it comes to paying teachers or funding schools. However, recently, the Texas Senate voted unanimously to give teachers a pay raise across the board. This means that the current $6,160 per student would raise, but it only about $600 more. While this is great it is also seen as unfair as private schools with usually wealthy families would get this raise on top of funding they already get through tuition costs. With Texas’ poverty rates above average, the ability for families to put their children in school is very hard. Although Texas had a noticeable decrease in poverty from 17.9% to 14%, Texas still has an all time high percentage of poverty. However, with help from DOE these low income families were able to get their children an education through Title I funds. Special needs children also gained opportunities through IDEA programs.
As time goes on students are very worried about their future education. With President Trump vocalizing his opinion on education and the possible federal cuts towards schools and universities, this raises concerns among students about their college experience. Recently the president threatened to also cut funding for programs such as DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) down across the country. When this was released some colleges like UT cut the program themselves to prevent any further repercussions and controversies. This means that oftentimes certain students will be cut and not treated equally. Vice President JD Vance, a graduate of the extremely exclusive Yale Law, vocalized how cutting DEI would benefit the students, as mentioned back in his 2021 political conference, titled The Universities Are The Enemy. He however did not suggest merely reducing the movement but rather cutting it entirely. As someone who is going to college soon knowing that diversity and inclusion will be ending and depending on where me and my fellow peers go our opportunities will vary is saddening.
Additionally, the dismantling of the Department of Education isn’t the only way the Trump Administration is attacking educational institutions. The Trump administration has found a way to inhibit protests at universities. The president has advocated for withholding funding from universities that allow “illegal protests,” meaning that protests against war, violence, and even civil rights would be shut down. The fact that being a part of a protest, Americans’ first amendment right, could cause a student’s education to be defunded when there is already a lack of funding is sickening.
The Federal Government assisting public schools through funding has both positives and negatives in the current education system. But without it, in Texas specifically, both teachers and students will lose critical funding that provides necessary opportunities for students and a decent quality of life for teachers and their families.
