Trump signs order to dismantle the Education Department: What about student loans and meal programs? |

President Donald Trumpsigned an executive order on Mar. 20, instructing to dismantle the US Education Department, to shrink the federal role in school, because it, according to him has ‘plainly failed’ the children, teachers, and families.
As Trump heads to fulfill his long-standing campaign promise, it has raised concerns, as the order is designed to leave school policy almost entirely in the hands of states and local boards, a prospect that alarms liberal education advocates. While Trump said the order would be “returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs,” it has raised questions about the future of the department’s key programs like federal student loans and school meal programs. The Education Department is primarily responsible for oversight, enforcing discrimination laws, and distributing aid money for schools with low-income students and students with disabilities.
So, will the shift affect student loans?

While Trump’s administration says the closure of the Education Department would ‘drastically improve program implementation in higher education’, the concerns regarding student loan pertains. The cuts made in the department have already removed hundreds of staff members and and contracts responsible for maintaining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) website and assisting users with the application process. However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon has assured that federal programs will continue.

On Thursday, the White House said that the department will continue to manage federal student loans, however, the order appears to say the opposite. The education department currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. “This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid,” the administration said. It noted that the Education Department is ‘not a bank’ and that it ‘must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students’ On Friday, Trump said that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would take care of the loan portfolio. As the President assured that “it will be serviced much better than it has in the past,” SBA on Friday, announced that it will cut its staff by 43%. This undoubtedly raises questions about how it would manage the $1.6 trillion loan portfolio.

Also, some programs for students with disabilities would be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Will it affect the children’s meals in public schools?

The school meal programs, which provide nutrition assistance to millions of students are unlikely to be affected, as they are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, the USDA has made cuts to a $1 billion pandemic-era initiative that previously helped schools and food banks purchase fresh, locally sourced food.