With the signing of President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) last week to push for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), the question folks in Delaware are asking is what are the implications for our state and the country?

As an organization, Rodel works on building broad coalitions to support an excellent and equitable public education system that supports all Delawareans to achieve success in school and life. We approach the work with a clear point of view, but we are also committed to listening to those who don’t see things the same way.

This post attempts to:
1) Explain the roles of the executive and legislative branches, what the EO says and summarize the Administration’s argument for eliminating USDOE
2) Provide some background on why the USDOE was created
3) Discuss whether this EO (and elimination of USDOE) is likely to enhance efficiency and improve outcomes
4) Summarize what it could mean for Delaware

Basics. To level set, constitutionally, there are certain things that the president can do without congressional approval and certain things his office and associated agencies cannot. While the president and his agencies can enforce laws, they can’t make them without congressional approval. The Executive Order signed last week doesn’t have the legal authority to cut funding or eliminate the agency without congressional approval.

Further, while the federal government contributes about 10 cents on the dollar to public education nationally (in Delaware it’s about 12 cents), the states and localities fund and control most of the major decisions, including things like curriculum, standards, and graduation requirements. Outcomes and achievement levels—for better or worse—are therefore also owned by state and local entities.

Current State. Linda McMahon has been appointed and confirmed as the new U.S. Secretary of Education. There have been many Executive Orders signed (see a full list here) that could impact how schools teach civics to how they train staff. On March 11 about half of USDOE’s 4,000 employees were put on administrative leave, and while this decision is being contested, half the staff are no longer there. The Office of Civil Rights, which is meant to protect students, and the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the independent evaluation and research arm of USDOE, took the biggest hits.

What’s the argument for eliminating USDOE? In the Executive Order, the cited reasons were that USDOE is a “failed experiment.” That, while it was created in 1979 to improve public education, that it has not done so and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars in the process. In short, the rationale is that the USDOE is an unaccountable bureaucracy that is stifling local control, so shutting it down will make government more efficient and improve student performance.

Why was USDOE created? A long time ago, a pastor in Wilmington taught me that before I take down a fence, I should try to understand why it was put up in the first place. While some folks may remember the Bush (No Child Left Behind) and Obama (Race to the Top) eras, the origins of the need for a more significant federal role in public education began well before then, and even before President Carter legally established the office in 1979. In the 1940s, after the war, the feds created the GI Bill (which benefitted my dad and brother but was elusive to black soldiers in Jim Crow America) to help many young people returning from the war continue their education. In the ‘50s, after Sputnik, the federal government invested in increasing science education to keep up with the Russians. In the 1960s and ‘70s, as students of color, those with disabilities, and those who don’t speak English as a first language, finally got access to public education, the federal government created funding streams, like Title 1 (1965) and Pell Grants (1972), and protections, like the Office of Civil Rights (1957) to ensure those rights were lived out.

In short, the origins of USDOE were about creating a more competitive, well-educated populace, based on the belief that we needed to create a system that was inclusive of all Americans so that, as a nation, we could thrive in a global economy.

Will this effort to dismantle USDOE generate more efficiencies? It depends on your definition. If “efficient” means spending less time and funding for the same or better quality outcomes, I’m skeptical. Were there redundancies in USDOE? Probably. But cutting over a thousand people means the loss of deep institutional knowledge that will be hard to rebuild, if ever.

The Trump Administration has stated that it will move important functions of the department to other agencies. For example, student loans and grants might be moved to the Small Business Administration, workforce development grants might be moved to the Department of Labor, and student funding line items might be moved to Health and Human Services.

Maybe this could work someday. But to do so those agencies would have to staff up and build new capacities and systems. And rather than engaging with one principal office, educators, parents, and students, will now need to navigate multiple, which have differing procedures and processes to administer programs and financial resources. In short, it’s not clear that there will be a net savings, nor that the quality of outcomes and service will be maintained or improved.

Will removing USDOE improve outcomes? The initial question is, how will we know? Much of the research and evaluation capacity of USDOE was eliminated in the March 11 reduction in force. This includes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), our one common national benchmark for literacy and numeracy. Even more conservative thinkers, like Checker Finn of the Fordham and Hoover Foundations underscores the need for USDOE to capture basic information across the country and to provide some level of analysis about lessons learned.  With no common hub for information, we can’t build a strategy of doing more of what works.

If this basic data function is eliminated, each of the fifty states will be on their own. Some will likely do well, but we won’t be able to amplify what they are doing, or worse, we may not know what they are doing, and some states will fall further behind, and as a nation, we will not have a means to track that decline or help them catch up.

What will this mean for Delaware? As a reminder, nine out of 10 children living in Delaware attend our public schools, so this impacts every corner of our state. Of those 140,000 public school students, about 61percent are people of color, 28 percent are low-income, about 12 percent are multilingual learners, and about 18 percent have an identified disability. And while our local and state tax dollars cover close to 90 percent of the cost, our children, students, and educators still benefit from over $300 million dollars in federal funds annually.

This is an evolving landscape because many of these Executive Orders are being contested in court and the funding implications may not come until next year. But as the dust settles, the impact could be profound. For example, federal cuts to Medicaid or access to food could also significantly impact Delaware’s budget picture and services available to students and families.

So, for Delawareans trying to get a handle on what the potential implications of all the Executive Orders proposed in the last 60 days (see here for a full list with associated summaries) will mean, here are three major issues to track.

• Information – With the recent cuts, critical information, like whether our kids can read and write could be lost. With no common measuring stick like NAEP, parents and employers won’t know what’s working from state to state. Likewise, it’s unclear whether any of the data we capture nationally, like graduation data or research on what works, will continue.
• Civil Rights – The Office of Civil Rights has already largely been decimated. Its job was to protect our most vulnerable children. When a complaint arises that students of color are being suspended at rates dramatically higher than their peers (which has happened in Delaware), who will parents turn to, the district that they are complaining about? Related, multilingual learners are our fastest growing student population (12 percent of Delaware’s public school students) and while they are a huge asset, speaking over 90 languages, with increased immigration enforcement, many are nervous and simply not attending school. As context, here is a statement from the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington.
• Student supports – The impact of federal funding cuts is still unclear. Given that Congress needs to vote on the allocation of federal funds and that the Administration says it will continue these allocations, these may not be at risk in the near term, but here are some of the federal funds Delaware currently receives annually
• $50 million for the 27,000 students with disabilities
• $59 million for the 100,000 children that attend schools with high percentages of low-income children
• $90 million for Pell Grants to help 17,000 Delawareans attend college

 

See here (pp. 13-14) for a full list of funding coming to Delaware. If these funds go away, will we replace those funds with state dollars, which may require a raise in taxes, or will we just let those tens of thousands of students not get the support they need? As Congress works through the budget process, we should be paying attention to these issues and several more that could have an impact on our state.

What’s next? It’s hard to predict with certainty, but in regard to these Executive Orders, the lawsuits challenging them will continue to play out, and members of congress will begin to debate the future of USDOE and its associated line items. Further, there will likely be additional executive or legislative actions filed to encourage “universal school choice,” which allows public-sector dollars to fund private schools through “Education Savings Accounts” or vouchers.

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but until then, we’ll keep moving forward to support all our children to contribute and thrive. Evidence of Delawarean’s resolve to keep moving forward could be seen in last Monday’s release of the Vision Coalition’s Student Equity and Excellence 2035 (SEE35), a 10-year vision by and for Delawareans for what public education can and should be in the next decade. We look forward to working with all of you here in Delaware and in D.C. to help us deliver on the promise of this plan.

In the last week, there have been several big stories on education. We saw federal funds frozen, then unfrozen; we saw the discouraging data from the Nation’s report card, and then the following day, some more news from D.C. about expanding school choice and proposed changes to what is taught in our schools. We’ve seen renewed focus on immigration enforcement and a series of Executive Orders related to transgender students. There is also the specter of President Trump eliminating the U.S. Department of Education entirely.

There’s a lot to process, so let’s start with the one we’re hearing the most about from schools and parents: immigration. Some school leaders have shared that daily enrollment is down as parents are afraid, and per the link, above, school administrators are generally not sure how best to respond. This is an area where there are some good resources from organizations like the ACLU but districts and charter schools could benefit from some statewide guidance from the state. My sense is that we will likely see that later in the week.

Second, the performance of Delaware’s public schools on NAEP. As has been reported here, and here, they are not good. Our performance went up modestly in math at the fourth-grade level, down at the eighth-grade level, and was largely flat in English. As Governor Matt Meyer and Secretary of Education Cindy Marten shared, this is a “turning point. We have a literacy emergency, and it is time for shared accountability and unwavering support for every child.” We need to act, and I’m excited that Sec. Marten has a great track record  of doing just that.

Related, as Delawareans look to modernize our school funding system we should not only build in the supports our children and educators need, but create clear strategies to address student achievement. This process is moving forward through the funding commission and the Meyer Administration has this as a top issue to tackle this spring. Again, Sec. Marten has experience connecting funding to helping students improve; here’s a report by Stanford University that highlights how San Diego “beat the odds.”

As to the recent flurry of federal Executive Orders, it’s unclear how they will impact our state or whether they are actually consistent with the Constitution. For example, there are mentions of repurposing federal funds and infusing new curricula into local schools. Changing how federal funds are spent will require Congress to agree, leaving a small amount in the discretion of the Trump Administration. Further, since the Constitution is silent on the role of the federal government, the curricula, what’s taught in our schools, is a decision typically made at the state and local levels, so it’s unclear what the impact of those EOs will be.

To summarize:

• The concerns about immigration enforcement need more clarification from the state.
• Our collective response to our overall performance on national assessments require focused strategy and investment.
• And, it’s not yet clear whether or how much the other federal EOs signed last week will change what actually happens in schools, so practitioners and policymakers should monitor those issues closely.

 

For our part, Rodel remains steadfast in our Equity Commitment, and we will continue:

• Building and supporting affinity spaces for educators of color to help recruit and retain a workforce that reflects the children they serve.
• Creating career pathways that are open to all, and include additional supports and training for our educators of color to not only better reflect our student population, but, as the research confirms, boost the academic performance of all students.
• Prioritizing policies that address equity, including scholarships and financial incentives, child care funding, and other supports that prioritize low-income families and many families of color.

 

We are committed to working with public and private partners to continue these initiatives regardless of what happens.

We support teaching culturally relevant, affirming, and sustaining content about the history of our country, including embedding the histories of marginalized and oppressed communities into curriculum materials and learning experiences.  Afterall, we can’t teach about the amendments to our Constitution, unless we understand why they were needed.

We support policies that protect students and educators—and those that make schools safe, welcoming, protected places to learn that create belonging regardless of race or gender.

We support public schools, and do not support vouchers. Close to nine out of 10 children in Delaware attend public schools. They are and will become our CEOs, our doctors and nurses, our mechanics, and IT professionals. Our public schools are the foundation of our communities. Public funds belong in public schools. We support a strong, equitable, accessible, and responsible public school system for all students. School vouchers provide little evidence of contributing to those ends. In fact, they have tended to widen disparities within communities and present major concerns for fairness, accessibility, costs, student achievement, and accountability.

For resources on these issues from state and national partners, please visit Affirming Our Commitment to Equity.

As we remember the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., I find some of his words as powerful today as they were then. In the Morehouse College student newspaper in 1947, he wrote about what many parents, educators and employers are still wrestling with close to 80 years later.

“…Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for oneself is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda…Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.”

Growing up today is no easy task and as a state, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. With the appointment of Cindy Marten  as Secretary of Education, Governor Matt Meyer has strategically positioned our state to capitalize on this pivotal moment, setting the stage for meaningful progress in education.

Her track record of getting things done in San Diego (a district of 100,000 students) will transfer well to Delaware (a state of about 140,000 students)—especially when it comes to improving graduation and literacy rates and overall health (see  here). While moving Delaware’s 42 local education agencies (19 districts and 23 charter schools), each with their own boards and micro politics, is different than moving one district, I’m confident her track record in California and all she’s learned in her recent role as Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, the second highest ranking education official in the nation, will serve her, and us, well in this new role. She has worked with the best educators in the country and seen what’s worked, and what hasn’t.

She will have some work to do. Much has been made of the drop in Delaware’s performance on state and national test scores that began before COVID and dropped precipitously since then (see here).

The good news is that, despite some real challenges, Secretary-Designate Marten will also have some strong assets to build upon, not the least of which is our collective ability to put our shoulder to the wheel with her.  The John Carney administration and the past two Secretaries, Susan Bunting and Mark Holodick, advanced public education in some significant ways. In the last several years:

• More than 70 percent more children are being served in state-funded pre-K.
• 30,000, or 65 percent of Delaware’s high school students are in career pathways getting a leg up on life with meaningful work experiences and access to post-secondary credits and credentials (at least 5X any state in the nation in terms of percentage engaged).
• We have increased teacher salaries nine percent and implemented a multi-pronged “Grow Your Own” approach to teacher recruitment and retention. This work is already impacting over 800 future educators and creating pathways for many more, all with the goal of building a teaching workforce that reflects the diversity of the students we serve.
• We are investing $60 million more in our low-income and multilingual learners and finally have a roadmap for redesigning our 80-year-old public school funding system.

 

As we consider how best to meet this moment, I encourage all of us to do what Delawareans do best, align and raise this collective “barn.” Our “Delaware Way” can be a powerful vehicle for working together to move on tough issues, or it can hold us back. Let’s work together to make the most of this moment.

Dr. King concluded that 1947 article, “We must remember that intelligence is not enough, intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

Strengthening our public schools is not just about test scores or jobs, it’s about the foundation of our democracy and our communities.

Welcome Cindy, we look forward to your confirmation, and let’s get to work!

As we collectively navigate the post-election landscape and prepare for the transitions at the state and federal levels, we at Rodel want to reaffirm our mission, objectives, and values and ask for your partnership in supporting our public schools.

For families, educators, and students—particularly those from marginalized communities who have historically shouldered the burden of systemic inequities—this moment may bring fear and uncertainty. The antidote to anxiety is action.

At Rodel, we are taking this opportunity to double down on our commitments to creating an excellent and equitable public education system that serves all Delawareans. Together, we invite your partnership to continue the work of building a future where every child has access to a quality education that supports their success in school, in work, and in life. So, what does this mean?

Our mission remains: To strengthen Delaware’s public education system and workforce by connecting partners to advance and implement sustainable solutions.

To achieve this, we are focused on these core priorities:

• Expanding access to early childhood programs focused on the state’s highest-need learners
• Improving educator diversity and retention to better serve Delaware’s students
• Strengthening career pathways that connect students’ interests and skills to promising careers and life outcomes
• Ensuring equitable funding that meets the needs of all students in Delaware

 

Historically, we have all seen that education can be both a door to opportunity and a tool of exclusion. We will keep that door open for all, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, including Black and Brown students, LGBTQ+ students, multilingual learners, immigrant students, students from indigenous communities, students with disabilities, and those from low-income and underserved communities. We recognize the immense value that these students bring, and we will do our part to support them and to ensure that their civil rights are protected. We also acknowledge the heightened stress and fears facing our immigrant communities statewide.

We look forward to aligning with local leaders and working with policymakers to ensure schools and community-based organizations are protected places as much as possible. We encourage individuals and organizations to Know Your Rights and work together during these turbulent times, and we encourage local education agencies to clearly communicate their policies to students, families and staff.

To advance our goals, we will:

• Follow the evidence to develop transformative, data-driven solutions
• Listen to the community to inform our work and build coalitions needed to ensure sustainable change
• Champion public education as the bedrock of democracy, benefiting 90% of Delaware’s children today
• Stay proactive and engaged, partnering locally and nationally to meet challenges head-on
• Work with partners to share resources that protect children and families
• Lead with empathy and compassion

 

We acknowledge the critiques of our public schools. We are clear-eyed about the work that needs to be done, and we embrace the urgency of this moment. We can and must do better. As new administrations take shape in Delaware and D.C., we remain steadfast and energized to work with all of you to reimagine what education can and should be. Public education is not only a foundation of our democracy—it is a reflection of the society we aspire to create.

We believe Delaware is a special place. We know how to work together, to get things done. We invite you to join us on this journey, and together, we can be a beacon for the nation.

Post-Election Analysis

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Early Childhood

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Postsecondary Success

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Immigration

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Education

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Partner Contacts 

ACLU of Delaware 

Advocates for individual rights and liberties through litigation and public education.
Address: 100 W. 10th Street, Suite 706, Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: (302) 654-5326
Email: Contact Form
Website: aclu-de.org 

 

Clean Slate Delaware Expungement Hub 

Provides assistance with the expungement process to help individuals clear their criminal records. 

Website: www.aclu-de.org/csde

 

Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) 

Offers legal services to low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and the elderly. 

Address: 100 W. 10th Street, Suite 801, Wilmington, DE 19801 

Phone: (302) 575-0660 

Website: declasi.org

 

Delaware Center for Justice 

Provides support services to justice-involved individuals and their families 

Address: 100 W. 10th St., Suite 905, Wilmington, DE 19801 

Phone: 302-658-7174 

Email: center@dcjustice.org 

Website: https://dcjustice.org/ 

 

Delaware Volunteer Legal Services (DVLS) 

Provides pro bono legal assistance to Delaware residents in need.
Address: 100 W. 10th Street, Suite 203, Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: (302) 478-8680
Email: dvls@dvls.org
Website: dvls.org 

 

Parent Information Center (PIC) of Delaware 

Provides one-on-one support to help families understand their rights and navigate the special education process 

Address: 404 Larch Circle, Larch Corporate Center, Wilmington, DE 19804 

Phone: (302) 999-7394 

Email: picofdel@picofdel.org 

Website: picofdel.org