BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — President Trump made good on a campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education, signing an executive order on the 20. Concerns revolve around potential affects to Kern County students.
- On March 20, President Donald Trump signed the executive order “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities”.
- It calls for the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to close the department and allow all states to control funding.
- Political science professor Ian Anderson says with the loss of these federal dollars, education across the country could start to look very different from one another.
With President Trump signing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, questions are being raised about potential negative impacts on students here in Kern County.
“Financial aid workshops to help kids with their FAFSA applications and their CADAA application,” said President and CEO of Youth2leaders, an educational organization, Gabriel Adame. “Right now, we are partnering with CSAC and we are hosting about 180 workshops just this year alone.”
Adame says every year they help about 3,000 students pay for school with the help of scholarships.
However, Adame says they are anticipating changes after a new executive order was signed by President Trump.
During a conference, President Trump stated, “Were going to be returning very simply to the States, where it belongs and this is a very popular thing to do but more importantly it’s a more common sense thing to do and its gonna work.”
Political Science Professor Ian Anderson says the department of education is responsible for setting a learning standard across the country.
Anderson says the dismantling of the department would create a drastic difference in education levels across the country.
“With no regulatory body at all trying to create standards, you can now imagine each school district is going to have a vastly different curriculum than in others so we’ll really begin to see inequity in education,” said Anderson.
According to Anderson, it wouldn’t just be K-12 schools that are affected but higher education as well.
“We’re talking financial aid at the college level, we’re taking about programs at the college Level, housing, different types of supportive programs to get minority students who are more disadvantaged to participate,” said Anderson.
As the Trump Administration moves forward with dismounting the department of education, Anderson says parents should further involve themselves in their child’s education, and if there’s a setback, reach out now for extra assistance.
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