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WASHINGTON — The governor of Texas and other statewide officials joined President Donald Trump on Thursday at the White House as he signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Although leading Texas Republicans are on board with the president’s decision, some unions and advocates warn that the most vulnerable Texas students will be hurt.
“We want to return our students to the states where just some of the governors here are so happy about this,” Trump said. “They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states, and they’re going to do a phenomenal job.”
One of those governors on hand for the president’s executive order Thursday was Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were among several Republican leaders from across the country at the White House to witness President Trump following through on a campaign promise to break up the Department of Education.
“What do you think about that, governor? Do you agree?” Trump said to Abbott, to which the Texas governor gave two thumbs up.
“What we will be able to do is take the resources and funding that come from the federal government, focus that on truly educating our kids, improving their score results in subjects like math and science,” Abbott said, shortly after the ceremony.
But the Texas leaders’ visit to the White House drew sharp criticism.
“Why are the two head people in our state, the two executive, top people celebrating the fact that I and thousands of my colleagues at my agency and across other agencies in the federal government are unemployed,” said Brittany Coleman, the chief steward of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Coleman, a North Texas native, was an attorney at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in Dallas. Coleman was just laid off.
She said she is worried that vulnerable Texas students will have no one ensuring they are not discriminated against.
“No one wants to be without a job. I think that is, you know, abundantly clear, and I think everyone can understand that. But I also have to say that my deepest concern is for what this means for our nation’s students,” Coleman said.
“What scares me is that we have students that need reasonable accommodations, like additional test-taking time, and that they may not get it, and that each time that child does not get it, and that complaint sits in our office that we are not getting that student the aid that they need to succeed in the classroom. This is horrifying,” Coleman continued.
The executive order does not eliminate the Education Department completely, because only Congress can do that. But the order calls for taking apart much of the agency.
Most of the funding provided by the DOE to Texas supports low-income school districts and students with disabilities.
“The value and contribution of the funds that are flowing from the federal government really have centered on supporting that group of individuals, and I think, for all the right reasons, we know from a deep body of research that pouring in those resources has led to really positive outcomes, both short and long term and, because right now, we just aren’t clear about what it will really mean in practice to dismantle the Department of Education,” said Cathy Horn, dean of the University of Houston College of Education.
Republicans say much of that money will still be provided, although it is not yet clear how the grants will be administered and monitored.
“What’s happening in schools’ curriculum is driven by state decisions. The vast majority of funding is coming from state and local levels, but what we know is that it is important to have checks and balances and combine resources — all three — to ultimately have schools be in best service of students,” Horn said.
Abbott, who was the former Texas attorney general, believes that Trump has the authority to diminish the role of the Department of Education. At least one union, the American Federation of Teachers, is vowing to take the president to court.
