Education Secretary Defends Trump Administration Plans

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon defended the Trump administration's plans to gut her department, stating that it won't harm students who need civil rights representation. Her comments came after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court's order blocking a plan to fire roughly 1,400 people from the U.S. Department of Education.

"The federal government will continue to provide the kind of funding that is already appropriated by Congress under Title I, the (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)," McMahon said. "What the president, what the federal government wants to do, is get out of the way. Remove a lot of the regulation. Let's put more money into the states that's now spent on bureaucracy."

McMahon met with education leaders from around the state and praised Purdue University's decision not to increase in-state tuition for 14 years, calling it "absolutely remarkable." She also commended Indiana's expansion of school choice vouchers and new emphasis on apprenticeships.

However, Rep. Chris Campbell, a Democrat, expressed concerns about the Trump administration's plans. She stated that both funding and the Department of Education have allowed the federal government to enforce equal educational opportunity over the past few decades. Campbell fears that Indiana's approach to education could limit students' future employment opportunities.

"We also have to think about the future, five, 10, 20 years down the line, when maybe these manufacturing jobs aren't there anymore and they've been pigeonholed into a skill that is obsolete," Campbell said. "So, we need to keep our options open for what's necessary, not only for today, but for tomorrow."

McMahon emphasized that if her department is dismantled, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and civil rights offices in other government agencies can take over handling civil rights complaints from minority or special-needs students. She also noted that Title I funding and other federal aid was being distributed to states well before her department was established.

The Trump administration has frozen about $6.7 billion in supplemental K-12 education funding, which includes grants for programs such as STEM courses and education for children of migrant workers. Indiana was supposed to receive around $107 million from this sum, but McMahon said the programs funded by those dollars are under review.