By: Jordan Sarver-Bontrager
Staff-Writer
Last issue, we covered President Trump’s proposed executive order to shut down the Department of Education. This week, I interviewed two education professors at IU South Bend: special education professor Katie Sargent and art education professor Dr. Laticia Hequembourg on the potential end of the Department of Education and its implications for students and faculty.
Dr. Hequembourg said she has concerns about support for art education, which is often threatened even in typical circumstances.
“It’s [been] this entity of learning throughout my life and my children’s lives. It’s been a source of structure for us and it’s provided me an education as a woman in the United States,” Dr. Hequembourg said. “A major concern for art educators is funding…it’s always on the chopping block.”
She said she is concerned that the Trump Administration will determine what is and isn’t “art” and whether fine arts deserve to be funded and supported as part of general education.
“I just want all students to feel like they have a place and that they’re supported,” Dr. Hequembourg said regarding the future of education itself. “I just want my daughters to know that as women, they have a place in education and they can shoot for whatever academic area that they want to go into, and I feel the same way for my students, for all students. That’s my major concern, is that all students are supported.”
The end of the Department of Education could also threaten protections for students in protected classes, including students with disabilities.
Special Education professor Katie Sargent said that the future of special education remains unclear, as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law passed by Congress, which shouldn’t be affected by a potential closure of the Department of Education.
IDEA allows children with disabilities to be accommodated in school and have a “free, appropriate public education.” This law cannot be overturned by an executive order, just as federal departments cannot be closed by executive order alone.
“It is likely that the oversight of that law could go to the state level,” Sargent said, adding that parents would still have a right to sue if their state did not abide by IDEA.
“I do have concerns about states trying to undermine special education. A big concern for me is the focus in Indiana on voucher programs, because schools that accept vouchers do not have to accept students with disabilities, nor do they have to provide specialized instruction for those students,” Sargent said.
Vouchers are certificates of government funding for students to attend school, typically private schools chosen by their parents, as a way of redirecting funds that would otherwise be spent on public education. The Trump Administration has shown a particular interest in pushing American education into private schools.
The Department of Education is also responsible for federal loaning programs for higher education students, as well as providing funding for public universities.
Dozens of Department of Education employees have been placed on administrative leave, but the department is still intact. Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for education secretary, was approved by the senate education committee and is awaiting confirmation by the full senate.
Trump has stated he would like the Department of Education “to be closed immediately,” and that he would like McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”