U.S. Rep. Ed Case lashed out at President Donald Trump’s executive order Thursday to dismantle the federal Department of Education as “shortsighted and heartless,” and the Hawaii Democrat detailed what Hawaii schools and students stand to lose.
“Our federal government has been an integral part of our commitment since the earliest years of our country, and the USDOE, as a stand-alone cabinet-level department appropriate to its importance, has been the law of our land since 1980,” Case said in a statement. “Its dismantling, and the real underlying purpose to eliminate any federal funding for education, would cause severe harm on a broad scale that would have lasting effects not just immediately but for generations.”
He called the Republican’s president’s move “one of the broadest and deepest and outright shortsighted and heartless of many attacks on the foundations of our society to date.”
In signing his executive order Thursday at the White House, Trump said, “We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs.”
Trump has said he wants Education Secretary Linda McMahon to put herself out of a job. “We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible,” Trump said. “It’s doing us no good.”
At the event, Trump suggested the matter could ultimately land before Congress in a vote to do away with the department entirely. Though Republicans control both chambers of Congress, Democratic support would be required to achieve the needed 60 votes in the Senate for such a bill to pass.
Case said after the order was signed: “If the President wants to come to Congress to discuss and debate real improvements to the USDOE, realignments including reductions to the USDOE’s mission and transfers of responsibility to state and local governments and communities in an ordered way, changes in federal funding, or any other aspect of federal efforts in education throughout our country, that would be a debate well worth having.
“But, like many other of his actions, their real intent is not to improve in a responsible manner but to destroy irresponsibly and in many cases unconstitutionally and illegally, and that should not be acceptable to any citizen.”
In a news release, Case listed myriad services that DOE funding supports in Hawaii, where there are more than 178,000 K-12 public schoolchildren, and thousands more who rely on student loans and grants for post-high school education. He said those benefits include:
• $72 million for Title I schools, which serve over 104,000 students, to guarantee every public school receives adequate funding and students have what they need to get ahead.
• $50 million to support students in military families or on Native American reservations.
• $55 million for 20,000 children who receive help like speech services, reading support or other assistance to get to appropriate grade levels, to ensure accessibility for students with disabilities.
• $7 million to ensure that schools are safe and teach life skills through programs like career counseling.
• $6.5 million for before- and after-school programs to support working parents and for clubs and sports for children.
• $3.3 million to support students learning English.
• $5 billion in federal student loans, supporting over 123,000 Hawaii residents pursuing education beyond a high school diploma.
• $81 million in Pell grants, ensuring over 16,000 students can pursue a college degree regardless of income status.
• $13 million for career and technical education, including pathways to jobs through apprenticeship programs in traditional trades or STEM careers.
“Education, especially our collective centuries-old commitment to a free education for all, is one of the most basic building blocks of our success as a country,” Case said. “It is a core part of the American Dream, the great equalizer of our society, providing all with the building blocks of success as well as the shared experience of our democracy.”
Reuters news service contributed to this report.
