Advance Illinois Statement on the Executive Order to Dismantle the U.S. Department of Education
CHICAGO (March 20, 2025)—The United States Department of Education is responsible for key functions impacting Illinois students’ ability to access high-quality, safe, and supportive learning environments from K-12 through postsecondary. Accordingly, it is important that the public be aware of today’s Executive Order seeking to abolish the federal agency. It is easy to criticize federal agencies and bureaucracies, and there is (always) room for improvement. But the call to eliminate the Department of Education in its entirety is another thing entirely. Indeed, it is hard not to see this action – taken in conjunction with other dramatic measures, as a concerted effort to undermine public education and many hard-won and ongoing efforts to ensure our education system works for every child and student.
The underlying message of today’s action seems to be (1) that the federal government does not have a role to play in education, and/or (2) that this role is insignificant enough to be managed effectively across a half dozen different agencies and with minimal staff, and/or (3) that all children are equally well-positioned to succeed, so there is no need to support high-need populations. But let’s be clear: overwhelming research and data tell us these assumptions are misguided. What do high-performing countries (like Finland, Sweden and Norway) have in common in the education space? A coordinated national approach that includes clear, consistent expectations for what students learn, robust data and research to support strong practice, and strong financial support to ensure schools, childcare centers, and universities are available for all, and that they provide rich and rigorous opportunity. This measure and others are turning the clock back on those principles.
It should go without saying that we all benefit when all children thrive. But the evidence is clear – not all students are succeeding. And while this administration seems to want to place the blame on the children themselves, evidence makes plain that all students can achieve if they get the instruction and support they need. While we may wish it were otherwise, students do not arrive at schools and colleges with the same set of needs. Some students face poverty. Others are living with disabilities. Others face prejudice for their background, race, ethnicity, gender or religion. And still others live in remote areas with limited access to technology and services the rest of us take for granted. We are a country that, at its best, has worked – sometimes imperfectly – to give every child an opportunity – recognizing that that it is not only the right thing to do, but that doing so strengthens families, communities and, ultimately, the country as a whole.
“To take this step at all, and especially now, when mountains of data point to slow but gradual progress in climbing back from COVID-related disruptions, highlights the administration’s disregard for its citizens, even as it flouts the legislative process,” notes Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois, an independent, bipartisan nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization.
In just a matter of weeks, the new administration has taken a number of steps to set back decades of work to support student progress and close racial, socioeconomic, regional, and generational gaps in academic opportunity and achievement.
The administration's order “Ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling” issued in January not only misunderstands and misstates constitutional law, but seems designed to intimidate educators working to meet the needs of diverse students into ignoring the fact that students arrive at school with unique needs. Under the order’s threat of withholding funding, some schools have pulled back preemptively from efforts to foster rigorous, safe, and supportive learning environments that meet the needs of students from all backgrounds and experiences.
When the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut nearly $900 million in Institute of Education Sciences (IES) contracts and cut NCES down to 3 employees, it slashed the arms of the Education Department responsible for collecting data, conducting research and analysis, and reporting on student progress and performance – activities key to driving coherent and effective education practice and policy at every level and in every corner of the country, reversing investments made by a bipartisan set of administrations for over a century.
Last week’s dramatic mass layoffs at the Department crowded out ongoing discourse and concern about the infamous ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ - a communication with no force of law, but one littered with misleading assertions of what constitutes violations of federal civil rights protections and that again threatened to withhold federal funding if institutions do not comply with restrictions that have no basis in law. The letter has created confusion and alarm, with the clear intent to halt practices that acknowledge the simple reality that students come to school with a range of learning styles and needs, and that educators and schools are and should work hard to address them so that every student succeeds. [Read guidance from Attorneys General from a range of states on how best to understand and respond to the “Dear Colleague” letter sent on February 14th.]
Finally, today, the White House issued an Executive Order directing Sec. McMahon to take "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States” - a direction that misunderstands that education authority already sits primarily with states.
The new administration’s mission is increasingly, and tragically, clear.
On average, the federal government provides roughly 12% of overall K-12 funding in Illinois, with higher-poverty schools and districts relying more heavily on those dollars. While spokespeople are claiming that efforts to dismantle the Department of Education will not impact services or programs (presumably other than those that have already been cut or targeted), it defies credulity that such significant layoffs will have no impact in the field.
Those who care about public education and about the next generation should be alarmed, and that alarm should motivate action. The stakes are critical and high. The United States has enjoyed outsized prosperity driven by having one of the most educated populations in the world. Sadly, we have been losing ground internationally, a trend that should concern us all and that is entirely at odds with recent actions. All of us benefit when the next generation is well-cared for and educated. Ours is a responsibility to make sure families have access to affordable high-quality early childhood education and care for their young children; that our under-resourced schools – prevalent in both urban and rural parts of our country and state – are supported to meet the academic and learning needs of students enrolled; and that students with limited family wealth can afford to earn degrees that improve their employment opportunities and earnings. That worthy and ambitious goal takes national coherence and national effort, even as it champions and supports ongoing state authority.
For our part, we will work with state elected officials and state and national partners to continue to fight for access, quality, and equity in education. Changes happening at the federal level matter, but they cannot and should not change our core values. Our mission remains clear – we need schools that work for every child and student.
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About Advance Illinois
Advance Illinois is an independent policy and advocacy organization working toward a healthy public education system that enables all students to achieve success in college, career, and civic life.