ROCHESTER, NY — Following Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, all eyes have turned to his potential policies when he returns to the White House.

One item on the president-elect’s to-do list is to get rid of the US Department of Education. The agency has been around for 45 years, has more than 4,000 employees and has a budget of 80 billion dollars. Trump says he wants states to control schools, a position Rochester Teachers Association president Adam Urbanski disagrees with.

“That would be heartless. That would be cruel and we would strongly oppose it,” Urbanski said.

Ubranski says eliminating the department would negatively impact students, especially children from low-income backgrounds and learning disabilities. Much of the money that comes into educational programs helps them.

He wants to maintain federal protections for all students. The purpose of establishing the Department of Education during President Jimmy Carter’s term was to supplement education for the neediest students. To bring gender equality, racial equity and justice to help children with learning disabilities, all of these things are funded by the Department for Education.

Kimberly DeRosa, former Republican candidate for New York State Assembly District 135, says she agrees with Trump and looks forward to the department being repealed.

“I think it will be a positive thing for our country because all it will mean is that we Americans will save federal dollars. Our taxpayer dollars,” DeRosa said.

Trump’s plan also seeks to limit what kind of lessons can be taught in school. And while the president-elect pushed for it during his first term in office without success, DeRosa believes it will come true this time.

“Parents can have more authority. I look forward to school choice as a federal opportunity as well so that parents have more opportunities beyond the education their children are receiving,” DeRosa said.

The Department of Education provides funding to schools with large populations of low-income students and programs that support special education services.

For it to be abolished, a motion must pass through the House and Senate. Republicans will now control the Senate, and as votes continue to be counted, the House of Representatives is still up for grabs.

AI helped format this story. Click Here to see how WHEC News 10 uses AI