Virginia educators, Democrats raise alarm over Trump’s effort to abolish Education Department

“When we have students that are hungry, they don’t feel safe, they don’t feel protected, it’s going to get very difficult for them to be able to learn,” said Darrell Turner, a Richmond Public Schools preschool teacher.

Darrell Turner is worried about his students. 

The Richmond Public Schools preschool teacher is concerned that President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the US Department of Education and his gutting of half the agency’s workforce will take away key support for his students. 

Turner, a third-generation educator with more than a decade of experience, is worried Trump’s attacks on public education will hamper funding for Head Start, the early childhood education program that serves around 10,700 kids in Virginia. He’s also concerned about what will happen to resources for students with special needs, and that  kids who depend on school lunches will go hungry and learn less in the classroom because of Trump’s actions.

“When we have students that are hungry, they don’t feel safe, they don’t feel protected, it’s going to get very difficult for them to be able to learn,” Turner said on a call with reporters on Monday.

Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education may not be legal, as it’s Congress and Congress alone that has the power to eliminate a Cabinet-level agency. But last week’s double-barrelled attack on the Department of Education has nonetheless raised fears about the future of an agency that sends out millions of dollars to school districts across the country and oversees civil rights violations. 

“This executive order is creating unnecessary chaos and worry for students and families,” Turner said.

In Virginia, the state and local governments fund most of the public education system, but they still count on millions in federal dollars disbursed by the Department of Education to help serve students from low-income families and with disabilities. On the civil rights front, the agency has 575 open investigations in Virginia schools. 

The department also produces research used in classrooms and shared with families by teachers like Turner on a daily basis. Turner said the research he’s shared with families touched on topics like how to make a sleep schedule for children, how to make sure kids are eating healthy, and information so families can know their rights for children with disabilities. 

“There are a lot of functions that the Department of Education provides that we use every day in the classroom,” Turner said.

To hear Virginia Republicans tell it, Turner and his students have nothing to worry about. 

According to them, the Trump administration is merely moving the functions of the Department of Education to other agencies – including all of the funding it oversees. Virginia Del. Nick Freitas, who was at the signing of the executive order, echoed those claims in a video posted last week. 

“You don’t need massive bureaucracies to distribute funds,” Freitas said. 

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin also welcomed news of Trump’s executive order, even as Virginia’s schools are underfunded compared to other states and lagging behind on math scores. 

Virginia Democrats worry that the Trump administration’s history of chaotic funding freezes and firing and rehiring of workers are signs that there’s trouble ahead. 

Virginia State Sen. Lashrecse Aird told reporters on Monday that she was particularly troubled by Youngkin’s effort to downplay the possible impacts of Trump’s order, which is already being challenged in court by a coalition of teachers, parents, and civil rights organizations.

“It’s extremely disingenuous for anyone to be passive about the critical disruption even the idea of this executive order has,” Aird said on Monday’s call with reporters. “We are experiencing unprecedented overreach by the Trump and Musk administration and the idea that any congressional representative, any state leader, any active governor like Governor Youngkin would say that we should not worry about this in this moment is just completely wrong.”