What Is the Department of Education? Student Loans, DOGE Cuts, and the Abolition Debate
The US Department of Education was created in 1979 and remains one of Washington's most politically contested agencies. It does notight);font-size:1rem;max-width:640px;margin:0;"> The US Department of Education was created in 1979 and remains one of Washington's most politically contested agencies. It does not run schools — education is a state and local function — but it controls more than $120 billion in annual federal education spending, administers the entire federal student loan system, and enforces civil rights laws in schools. The Trump administration has moved to dramatically reduce or eliminate it.
What the Department Does: Funding, Loans, Civil Rights
The Department of Education has no authority over school curricula or what teachers are hired — those decisions belong to states, school districts, and local governments. What the Department controls is federal money and federal law enforcement in education.
Federal Student Aid: The Department administers the entire federal student loan and grant system. Pell Grants provide need-based aid to low-income students (maximum $7,395/year in 2024-25). Federal student loans — subsidized, unsubsidized, PLUS loans, and Graduate PLUS — are originated, serviced, and collected by the Department. The total portfolio exceeds $1.7 trillion owed by approximately 43 million borrowers. Loan servicing contracts, income-driven repayment plans, and forgiveness programs are all administered from within the Department.
Title I: Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides federal funds to schools with high concentrations of low-income students. In 2024, this was approximately $18 billion distributed to about 56,000 schools serving 26 million children. States and districts have significant flexibility in how Title I funds are spent.
IDEA: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees students with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education. The federal government provides grants to states to help cover the additional costs; states are required to provide services regardless of whether Congress fully funds the federal share (it typically does not, creating a recurring state-federal tension).
Civil Rights Enforcement: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigates complaints of discrimination based on race, sex, disability, and national origin in schools and colleges. OCR can compel changes at schools or colleges, withhold federal funding as a last resort, or refer matters to the Department of Justice.
DOGE and the Abolition Push: What Is Actually Happening in 2025-2026
The Trump administration, with DOGE's involvement, has moved aggressively to shrink the Department of Education. The administration has proposed reducing the workforce through buyouts and layoffs, transferring student loan administration to the Treasury Department, moving special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services, and ultimately closing or dramatically reducing the Department's footprint.
Congressional Republicans have discussed legislation to formally abolish the Department — a long-standing goal of social conservatives who view federal education involvement as constitutionally dubious and educationally counterproductive. However, abolition faces significant obstacles: even conservative-leaning states have come to depend on federal education funding, Pell Grant recipients span the political spectrum, and the IDEA disability requirements have bipartisan constituencies.
Federal employee unions and education advocacy groups have filed lawsuits challenging mass layoffs and the scope of executive authority to reorganize or eliminate the Department without congressional authorization. Courts have issued mixed rulings on the administration's ability to proceed unilaterally.
| Program | Annual Spending | Beneficiaries | Abolition Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pell Grants | ~$30B | 7M+ students | Would need new authorization |
| Federal Student Loans | $120B+ originations | 43M borrowers | Could move to Treasury |
| Title I (K-12) | ~$18B | 26M children | Could move to HHS |
| IDEA | ~$15B | 7.5M students w/ disabilities | Could move to HHS |
| Head Start | ~$12B | 833,000 children | Already at HHS |
The Student Loan Crisis: $1.7 Trillion and Rising
Federal student loan debt has grown from roughly $500 billion in 2008 to over $1.7 trillion in 2025, making it the second-largest category of consumer debt after mortgages. About 43 million Americans carry federal student loans. The average bachelor's degree graduate with loans owes approximately $29,000; borrowers who attended graduate or professional school often owe six figures.
The Biden administration's broad student loan forgiveness program — which would have canceled up to $20,000 per borrower — was struck down 6-3 by the Supreme Court in Biden v. Nebraska (2023), again invoking the major questions doctrine. The Biden administration then pursued narrower forgiveness programs targeting specific categories: borrowers defrauded by schools, those with permanent disabilities, and those who had been in repayment for 20-25 years under income-driven plans.
The Trump administration has moved to end income-driven repayment plans introduced under Biden (particularly SAVE — Saving on a Valuable Education) and has taken a more restrictive approach to loan forgiveness. Court battles over these changes are ongoing in 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the federal government control what is taught in schools?
No. Under the General Education Provisions Act, the Department of Education is explicitly prohibited from directing, supervising, or controlling school curriculum, instructional programs, personnel, administration, or personnel. Curriculum decisions belong to state boards of education and local school districts. The federal government influences education through funding conditions and research, but cannot mandate what is taught. Debates over critical race theory, sex education, and book bans are primarily state and local policy battles, not federal ones.
What is Title IX's current status on transgender students?
The Biden administration issued a 2024 rule extending Title IX protections to cover gender identity discrimination, requiring schools to use students' preferred pronouns and allow transgender students to access facilities consistent with their gender identity. The Trump administration has moved to rescind this rule and has taken the position that Title IX applies only to biological sex. Multiple federal courts have blocked portions of the Biden rule; the Trump administration's reversal is also being litigated. The Supreme Court has not definitively ruled on Title IX's application to gender identity.
How are charter schools and school vouchers connected to the Department?
The Department administers the Charter Schools Program, which provides federal grants to help start and expand public charter schools. School vouchers — public money for private or religious school tuition — are primarily a state-level policy; there is no large-scale federal voucher program, though the Trump administration has pushed for Education Savings Account (ESA) programs at the federal level. The Supreme Court has ruled that including religious schools in generally available voucher programs does not violate the Establishment Clause (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 2002; Espinoza v. Montana, 2020).
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