The post-pandemic era has been a challenging time for the U.S. Department of Education.
A day after President Joe Biden took his oath of office, the Department of Education issued its first press release under the new administration.
“At the request of President Biden, Acting Secretary Will Extend Pause of Federal Student Loan Payments,” read the headline of a Jan. 21, 2021, announcement.
Under the president’s watch, the Department of Education issued more public statements touting student loan forgiveness than any other topic, according to The Epoch Times’ review of 958 news releases, media advisories, and speech transcripts.
Earlier this year, the agency announced that Biden, “through more than two dozen executive actions,” has approved $138 billion in student debt cancellation for 3.9 million borrowers.
State courts across the country and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Biden overextended his authority with those actions, so most borrowers may still be on the hook for student loans as the status of how and when those debts are to be repaid remains in limbo nearly four years after the president’s promise.
The Department of Education also frequently issued media releases about the amended Title 9 provisions, which allow students to participate in sports according to their desired, not biological, gender.
Announcements regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have also been commonplace in the past four years, including multilingual classroom initiatives, elevated funding for historically black colleges and universities, Pride Month, “Transgender Day of Visibility,” and a program to help prison inmates obtain Pell grants and federal student loans or reduce debts with existing student loans.
“You reap what you sow, and it is very clear that this administration’s Department of Education has been incentivizing the advancement of far-left ideologies in place of rigorous, proven methods of education,” Rhyen Staley, PDE researcher, said in a Dec. 12 public statement. “The only people or groups to benefit from the enormous amount of grant funding are the universities, administrators, and DEI consultants, at the expense of children’s education. This needs to change by placing children’s learning at the forefront of education instead of prioritizing race-based policies and DEI.”
Announcements regarding American Rescue Plan funding to help schools across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic and guidance for reopening schools were also frequent, as were releases identifying civil rights violations in school districts and higher learning institutions across the nation.
There were also releases promoting career and technical education initiatives, rural education programs, teacher recruitment efforts, gun violence awareness, and social-emotional learning.
“I visited a high school last year where every student had a learning period dedicated to social-emotional well-being or mental health supports in their daily schedule. Let’s see more of that,” Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during a Jan. 27, 2022, speech outlying his vision for education in America, according to the agency website.
“And let’s work together to meet the president’s goal of doubling the number of school counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals in our schools.”
“We can’t lose this moment—this chance to reset education—by going back to the same pre-pandemic strategies that did not address inequities for Latino, black, and native students; students from low-income backgrounds; students from rural communities; students with disabilities; students experiencing homelessness,” he said during the same speech.
Items recognizing high academic achievement (Blue Ribbon Schools) or acknowledging low performance in reading and math (Nation’s Report Card) were less frequent but still emphasized.
On Oct. 27, 2022, Cardona acknowledged significant drops in average test scores for reading and math in Grade 4 and Grade 8 nationally.
“I want to be clear: The results are appalling and unacceptable,” he said. “They are a reminder of the impact this pandemic had on our learners and the important work we must now do for our students.”
The Department of Education was established in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.
Its scope was and still is limited: to ensure equal educational opportunities; to share research and information that can help state and local education agencies; to provide additional funds to very low-income schools that cannot get by with just state aid and local property tax dollars; and to administer federal grant and loan programs for higher education.
The federal agency cannot mandate curriculum, graduation requirements, or teacher and administrator credentials. Those decisions are made at the state and local levels, where governments provide most school funding.
Special education funding, civil rights investigations, and guidance on technology and artificial intelligence education are more recent tasks taken on by the Department of Education.
Still, all of those functions—new and old—could easily be absorbed into other federal agencies with massive savings to taxpayers, says Jonathan Butcher, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation Center for Education Policy.
“Washington is paying an administration to do the work that state departments of education should already be doing,” Butcher told The Epoch Times, adding that federal aid to poor districts only amounts to less than 10 percent of per-student allocations.
“Abolishing the U.S. Department of Education provides more authority for states and districts to make decisions for themselves.”
Given the unsuccessful attempts to provide student debt relief, the continuation of low test scores, and the lack of support for allowing males to compete in female sports, Butcher said, the U.S. Department of Education “certainly did not advance policy in any meaningful way.”
Butcher said he expects that the Department of Education in the next administration will work to cut redundant administrative costs, emphasize academic improvement, empower state and local education administrators to lead better, and promote universal school choice nationwide.
The Epoch Times contacted the Department of Education with a request to interview officials or respond to an inquiry by email, but no information was provided.
The Brookings Institution and the Learning Institute Policy also did not respond to inquiries.
The National Education Association (NEA) teacher’s union, which endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, issued a public statement expressing disappointment with the election results but also claiming victory in that the referendum to end the taxpayer-funded private school voucher program in Nebraska passed, while referendums to codify school choice into the state constitutions in Colorado and Kentucky were defeated.
David Ardrey, interim executive director for the National Rural Education Association, which represents schools in small communities across 48 states, said the past four years have been especially challenging because so many positions within the Department of Education specific to serving rural districts remained unfilled for long periods, perhaps due to pandemic disruptions.
Regardless of administrations, not knowing if and when federal assistance will come through is “business as usual” for poor rural schools.
Regardless of how the Department of Education changes, Ardrey’s biggest concern is preserving the federal liaisons who help district leaders in the smallest communities secure enough money and guidance to keep their schools open.
“Kids don’t stop going to school because we’re going to transition the president,” he told The Epoch Times.
