John Ransom | February 18, 2025
(The Lion) — The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced it was axing 70 grants totaling $373 million at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
The grants were made under the Biden administration to further diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals.
“One [grant program] trained teachers to ‘engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,’” said the social media announcement by DOGE on X.
That brings the total savings generated by DOGE to $1.254 billion at the DOE since it began reviewing the agency.
Scripps News reported that previous to the latest announcement, DOGE canceled DEI training grants and 169 research contracts with a total value of nearly $1 billion.
A post from DOGE estimated the savings to taxpayers at $881 million.
The cuts follow a Valentine’s Day letter from the DOE Civil Rights division warning K-12 public schools, as well as colleges and universities, that DEI programs instituted under former President Joe Biden or former President Barrack Obama run afoul of the law giving equal protection to all regardless of race, color, or national origin.
“For example, colleges, universities, and K-12 schools have routinely used race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programming,” said the DOE letter.
The DOE warned that those practices could endanger federal funding for institutions that refuse to comply with the law.
“The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions,” the letter added. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”
The Trump administration has promised to eliminate the entire U.S. Department of Education and send the money directly to the states to manage.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is working on an executive order which would dismantle all parts of the DOE that are not explicitly authorized by Congress, perhaps turning over what is left to other agencies.
Democrats claim such a move couldn’t be made without congressional approval, but since Republicans control the House, the Senate and The White House, it’s possible a change in law could be on deck too.
“The way that politics work, the president says what his priorities are, and the members of Congress who support his aims will work in the same direction,” said Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation who is in favor of disbanding the DOE.
For sure, even if Congress abolishes the DOE, that wouldn’t eliminate all of the $268 billion reflected in the department’s annual budget.
The DOE sent 25.4% of its funding to state and local governments to pay for elementary and secondary education, or about $61.5 billion in 2024, according to USA Facts. Under Trump’s plan, those dollars, and any other federal help for things like law enforcement for schools, would be turned into grants sent directly to the states.
As Trump perfects his plans and possible legislation is introduced, however, the DOGE team will continue to wield its “meat axe” on the DOE budget, looking to eliminate unnecessary and perhaps illegal spending – with the help of the general public.
DOGE has set up a separate account on X with the handle @doge_ed to solicit ideas about how to eliminate excessive spending at the DOE.
“DOGE is seeking help from the public! Please DM this account with insights on waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the U.S. Dept of Education,” said the post.
This article was made available to EdNews Virginia via The Lion, a publication of the Herzog Foundation.