Delmarva officials address Trump’s Department of Education executive order
DELMARVA – President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on the Department of Education has lawmakers and educators in Delmarva at odds.
March 20th, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled, Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities. It calls to dismantle the Department of Education, created in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter. Local officials on Delmarva gave their opinions on how this helps or hurts the future of education.
Executive Order
The American Bar Association defines an executive order is a signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages the operations of the federal government, was this Trump’s latest.
President Trump’s executive order would dismantle the Department of Education. The White House saying in part quote: “While the Department of Education does not educate anyone, it maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year… Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.”
Trump made the following remarks at the signing, “The Department of Education, we’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right– and the Democrats know it’s right, and I hope they’re going to be voting for it.”
Academic Advocates
The Maryland Department of Education is currently reviewing the order with legal counsel and stays committed to equitable education saying in part- ” While there are many questions to be answered regarding funding and resource allocations, our vision is unchanged for public education in Maryland.”
The Maryland State Education Association, also fighting back. Representative Paul Lemle saying in part, “This potential chaos redoubles the importance of doing all we can in Maryland to strengthen and protect our commitment to our students, especially those coming from backgrounds of poverty, receiving special education services, or who are multilingual learners.”
College Community
University of Maryland Eastern Shore‘s VP for Strategic Communications Robert Vickers says this is effects everyone. “To take actions that affect our ability to educate our children- definitely affects the United States to be competitive in a global market space…”
He goes on to say, “Every college and university should expect this action to have a profound effect on their ability to keep the best and brightest students, faculty, and researchers- and support the kind of work that’s been the foundation of America’s exceptional ism for generations.”
Vulnerable Children
Maryland Governor Wes Moore responded by saying, “The dismantling of the Department of Education by the Trump Administration directly harms the future of students from all across Maryland but especially those from low-income families and those with disabilities. Maryland receives $1.6B in funding annually that goes to support our most vulnerable children, and these draconian efforts put that funding at risk.
To those at the department who have worked tirelessly in service to our nation’s students–thank you. Your service to the people of Maryland does not go unnoticed, and it is with your help that we continue to see progress across the state.
The Moore-Miller Administration will continue to build upon the success we’ve seen by working to ensure the opportunity for every child in Maryland to have the best public education available.
This puts the $1.6 billion in funding for vulnerable children at risk saying in part quote: “The dismantling of the Department of Education by the Trump Administration directly harms the future of students from all across Maryland but especially those from low-income families and those with disabilities. ”
However, not everyone in Maryland disagrees. According to her office, Senator Mary Beth Carozza is siding with the White House. “For awareness, Senator Carozza believes that removing most of the functions of the federal U.S. Department of Education should result in more education dollars coming directly to the State and therefore local school systems as you are eliminating wasted dollars going to federal bureaucracy.”
Cut the b—, not education
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer responded quickly saying, “Let’s cut the b——, not education. Schools are already underfunded, teachers underpaid, and students underserved” Disagreeing with Carozza’s stance, he had a lot more to add.
“Our 4th and 8th grade testing scores in reading and math, basic English and math literacy are not acceptable. That’s not just true here in Delaware, that’s actually true in many states across the country. Dissolving our federal department of education without some plan about how to actually get resources to classrooms and fix these problems, is not a good strategy.”
To dismantle or not to dismantle
Looking ahead, President Trump says he will be taking the necessary steps to dismantle the D.O.E. “My administration will take all lawful steps to shut down Department. We’re going to shut it down, and shut it down as quickly as possible, it’s doing us no good.”
A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general filed a complaint saying any attempt by Trump to eliminate the department is unlawful, reading in part- “The Trump Administration cannot dismantle the Department of Education. It cannot override whether through large-scale reductions in force or otherwise, the statutory framework prescribing the Department’s responsibilities. As the Supreme Court put it nearly a century ago” end quote.
It’s important to note that Executive orders are not legislation; they require no approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding. Only a sitting U.S. President may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect.
