US Education Secretary says repeal of federal education agency will be disastrous

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

By The Star Staff

The closure of the U.S. Department of Education, as could happen under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, “will be a disaster,” according to its current secretary, Puerto Rican Miguel Cardona.

Cardona, who is visiting the island, said this closure would mainly affect special needs students.

“If they close the federal Department, it will cause problems for the entire country, especially with special education students and students’ civil rights. I think it will be a disaster. But for me, the most important thing is that students have what they need,” said Cardona in an aside with the press at an event in San Juan.

It is not clear what will happen to the federal education funds allocated to Puerto Rico.

During his campaign, Trump said, “One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states,” Trump said in a video posted to social media. “We want them to run the education of our children because they’ll do a much better job of it.”

Trump’s platform also responds to issues that conservatives have rallied around for years by promising to “cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

There are limits to how much influence the president or the federal government can exert over local schools.

The federal government plays a vital role in education. This role includes protecting students’ civil rights, disbursing Title I funds for students in poverty and students with disabilities, collecting data on schools, and administering federal student loans for higher education.