Tom Fitzgerald sat down with Jillian Berman, the managing editor at MarketWatch, to discuss how closing the Department of Education could impact students and borrowers.
WASHINGTON - Last week, the Trump administration announced a number of new actions aimed at dismantling the Department of Education.
A series of six new agreements will shift major K-12 and higher education responsibilities and grant programs to federal government agencies like the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the State Department.
The Department of Education will continue to oversee federal student loans and college accreditation, while also managing the country’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio and gathering data on school performance in the U.S.
RELATED: Trump administration plans to dismantle parts of Education Department. What it means for student loans
"The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states," U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
"Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission. Together, we will refocus education on students, families and schools – ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system," she added.
The Trump administration has argued that these changes are necessary in order to ensure that American students recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the pandemic "has had a wide-ranging and long-lasting impact on education in the United States." The sudden change to online learning, for example, proved difficult for students and teachers alike, as well as "dramatically decreased instructional time" and "hindered student understanding."
John King, who served as secretary of the Department of Education during the Obama administration, told NPR's All Things Considered that the changes outlined by the Trump administration are "the opposite of focus" when it comes to bouncing back from the pandemic.