Trump may want to close the Department of Education, but for now he's exploiting its power

As President Donald Trump and administration officials are preparing to tear down swaths of the Department of Education, they’re also ramping up the department’s efforts to exert control over schools to an unprecedented level in pursuit of their right-wing vision for education. On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that Trump is preparing to sign an executive order directing his new education secretary, Linda McMahon, to “take all necessary steps” to close her department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” While the department was created by Congress and can only be closed by Congress, the aim of the order appears to be to cut many of the programs administered by the department under the guise of returning “authority over education to the states and local communities.” Related Trump opens up a new war on public schools There are, however, some programs the department is required to maintain by law, namely the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Civil Rights. “All of that work has been put on pause and instead they’re suing civil rights law to try to further their right wing agenda.” We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism Specifically, the Trump administration is using the department’s power to go after diversity, equity and inclusion programs as well as transgender students. Perera notes that they’ve been using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination, to attack inclusion programs, while claiming that they amount to “anti-white discrimination.” As it stands, it’s somewhat unclear as to what exactly qualifies as a diversity program according to the Trump administration. Perera added that the administration has been leveraging Title IX of the act, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools, to attack transgender Americans over issues like their participation in sports, while “At the same time, they won’t be using Title IX to address issues of sexual discrimination or sexual assault on college campuses.” She said she expects this to continue after Trump's anticipated executive order.